'Houston Open Champ' Pinau "World Ranking 15th → 12th"

Pinao Men's Golf Weekly World Ranking Jumps 3 Spots
McIlroy 1st, Scheffler 2nd, Smith 3rd 'Maintained'
Kim Juhyung 15th, Im Sungjae 21st, Lee Kyunghun 37th 'Positioned'

Tony Finau is smiling while holding the trophy immediately after winning the Cadence Bank Houston Open. Houston, USA - Photo by AP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] "Knife Dance" dancer Tony Finau (USA) has risen to 12th in the world rankings.

Finau jumped three spots from last week in the men's golf world rankings announced on the 14th (local time). He secured a 4-stroke victory at the PGA Tour Cadence Bank Houston Open (total prize money $8.4 million), which concluded the day before at Memorial Park Golf Course (par 70) in Houston, Texas. Leading for four days, this marked his first win of the season and his fifth career victory, his first since the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July, with a winner's prize of $1,512,000 (2 billion KRW).

Finau, from the South Pacific island nation of Samoa, first gained attention by winning his first career title at the Puerto Rico Open in March 2016. He has a unique background of supporting his family by performing the knife dance with them during his childhood. Married in 2012, he is a father of five children. With two wins last season and three this year, he is on a steep upward trajectory.

There were no changes in the top ranks: Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) remains 1st, Scottie Scheffler (USA) 2nd, Cameron Smith (Australia) 3rd, Patrick Cantlay (USA) 4th, Jon Rahm (Spain) 5th, Xander Schauffele 6th, Will Zalatoris 7th, and Justin Thomas (all USA) 8th.

In Korea, Kim Joo-hyung (20) holds the highest rank at 15th. Im Sung-jae (24) is 21st, Lee Kyung-hoon (31) 37th, and Kim Si-woo (27) remains 74th. Kim Young-soo (33), who swept the Korean Professional Golf Association (KPGA) Korean Tour money title and MVP this year, rose from 426th last week to 376th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.