6. Sungjae Im
The biggest thing for Sungjae this week is the approach play. If you look at his performances in his last 25 starts, there is a very strong correlation between Im's approach play being in the plus-strokes gained camp, and Im having high finishes in the events. Yes, the last couple weeks he has cooled off a little bit from his form coming into the year, but we're going right back to a course that he just finished T4 at, so the comfort level should be off the charts for Sungjae this week.
5. Taylor Pendrith
I am going to keep riding the Taylor Pendrith train until the wheels fall off. Pendrith is in the middle of a stretch where he has finished outside of the top 25 only once in his last 11 worldwide starts, including a T7 at this year's Farmers Insurance Open (currently his best finish of the 2025 season). I loved Pendrith at the Farmers a couple of weeks ago, and while he may be going up against a stronger field than the Farmers Insurance field, he's shown the ability to hold up against the big dogs. He's also good value at 40-1 to win on FanDuel currently, so if anyone else got the bonus bets for Jalen Hurts scoring the first touchdown in the Super Bowl, give Pendy a shot.
4. Scottie Scheffler
Am I crazy for Scottie's back nine on Sunday giving me the ick a little bit? I know he's still coming back from the hand surgery, and anyone coming back from injury needs a couple of events to get back up to playing speed (looking at you, Jordan Spieth). But, everything about that Sunday back nine-41 was just... ugly. He was missing shots all over, showing a lot of anger that we haven't really seen from Scottie, and clearly still in the process of getting comfortable with his new putting grip. I don't think Scottie is on the precipice of collapse, and I'm sure he'll have things figured out by the time The Players rolls around, but this comeback process may take a little bit longer than anticipated. At the same time, he's still Scottie Scheffler, so until he has some truly poor starts and is missing cuts again, he's going in the rankings.