Tiger Woods started off the countdown as our No. 30 Player to Watch. (Ryan Young/PGA TOUR)
Our annual countdown of the Top 30 Players to Watch is now underway. Each day in December, PGATOUR.COM will unveil a different player on the list, starting with No. 30 Tiger Woods (perhaps you’ve heard he’s back).
How did we decide which players to feature in our top 30 for 2018? There’s certainly no scientific formula. Most of the names are fairly obvious, the only argument being where they ranked. We made sure to include a few up-and-comers from the Web.com Tour. Patton Kizzire played his way onto the list during the fall as the FedExCup leader going into 2018.
Some names are based on performance, others on potential.
And of course, we weren’t going to leave Tiger off the list. Sticking him at No. 30 — in the leadoff position, if you will — seemed most appropriate.
By limiting the list to 30 names, that meant some worthy candidates did not make it. Tough calls were made and we know not everybody will agree with the list. That’s fine — a good healthy debate amongst passionate golf fans is one of the benefits of this feature. So feel free to argue away if you think your favorite pro has been slighted.
TOP 30 COUNTDOWN SCHEDULE
| Ranking | Player/Date (click name for profile) |
| No. 30 | Tiger Woods |
| No. 29 | Peter Uihlein |
| No. 28 | Chesson Hadley |
| No. 27 | Kevin Chappell |
| No. 26 | Bryson DeChambeau |
| No. 25 | Patton Kizzire |
| No. 24 | Kevin Kisner |
| No. 23 | Jhonattan Vegas |
| No. 22 | Pat Perez |
| No. 21 | Daniel Berger |
| No. 20 | Patrick Cantlay |
| No. 19 | Justin Rose |
| No. 18 | Si Woo Kim |
| No. 17 | Matt Kuchar |
| No. 16 | Patrick Reed |
| No. 15 | Tony Finau |
| No. 14 | Henrik Stenson |
| No. 13 | Marc Leishman |
| No. 12 | Xander Schauffele |
| No. 11 | Phil Mickelson |
| No. 10 | Sergio Garcia |
| No. 9 | Jason Day |
| No. 8 | Brooks Koepka |
| No. 7 | Jon Rahm |
| No. 6 | Rickie Fowler |
| No. 5 | Hideki Matsuyama |
| No. 4 | Rory McIlroy |
| No. 3 | Dustin Johnson |
| No. 2 | Jordan Spieth |
| No. 1 | Justin Thomas |