Golf fans are well aware that Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson practise together, go to the gym together, hang out together, and are even in reported Ryder Cup dust-ups together. But this week, the duo also played badminton together, and now, they have a chance to do something no two golfers have ever done together: share the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Let’s be clear that when we say “they have a chance”, we are referring to the “So you’re telling me there’s a chance”-type of chance Lloyd Christmas had to get with Holly Swanson in “Dumb and Dumber”: “You mean, not good like one out of a 100?” Nope. “I’d say, more like one out of a million.”
But there’s still, technically, a chance of this happening thanks to some crazy maths. Official World Golf Ranking guru Nosferatu broke down the super-specific scenario that needs to happen at this week’s WGC–HSBC Champions for these two buddies to become co-No.1s:
So DJ needs to finish in a four-way tie for second (kinda possible considering he finished in a two-way tie for second in Shanghai last year), Koepka has to finish solo 51st, and Rose can’t win. Hey, it doesn’t sound as unlikely as winning the Mega Millions.
Koepka ascended to No.1 for the first time with his win at last week’s CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges. That created a first-time scenario in which the current top four (Koepka, Johnson, Rose and Justin Thomas) were all No.1 in the same season. And it also marked just the second time (1997 with Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, Tom Lehman and Ernie Els) that four different players held the top spot in the same year.
But again, there has never been a tie at the top since the inception of the ranking in 1986. And despite the “chance” of it happening this week, we’re betting there never will be.