Every Men's World Number One Golfer - All 25 Listed

Justin Rose, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have all topped the Official World Golf Ranking list at some point

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 30 May 2022

The first Official World Golf Ranking list was released prior to the 1986 Masters as a way of comparing players on all tours across the globe, and especially those splitting their times between tours. The R&A found issuing invitations to play the Open Championship on a tour by tour basis was missing those who played multiple tours.

The method of calculating the rankings has changed many times over the years. Currently, points are awarded for events on more than 20 tours over a rolling two-year period with points maintained for a 13-week period to make sure there’s an emphasis on the most recent form. After that they are reduced by just over 1% a week until they disappear after 104 weeks.

Players must have played a minimum of 40 tournaments and a maximum of 52 over the two years. Each event is given a ‘strength of field’ rating, using a world rating value and a home tour value that basically grades the field using the previous rankings of the competitors. This is converted into a ‘event ranking’, though Majors are always given a fixed event ranking of 100. Event winners are given 100% of the event ranking, 2nd 60%, 3rd 40%, 4th 30%, 5th 24% all the way down to 1.5% for 60th.

The Official World Golf Ranking list is important because it’s used for invites to tournaments including Majors, plus team events like the Ryder and President’s Cups, and even the Olympic Games. A ranking inside the top 50 guarantees an invitation for all the Majors, all World Golf Championship events and the Players Championship.

In 1986, the first rankings had 31 Americans in the top 50, but it was Europeans dominating the top spots, with Bernhard Langer the first World No.1 and Seve Ballasteros and Sandy Lyle ranked second and third. Fast forward to March 2022, and Scottie Scheffler became the 25th man to hold the position as World No.1. Only four men have held the World No.1 position for more than 100 weeks - Rory McIlroy (106), Dustin Johnson (135), Greg Norman (331) and of course Tiger Woods, who has spent 683 weeks, more than 13 years, as the top ranked golfer in the world. At the other end of the scale, Tom Lehman is the only player who could only boast the number 1 ranking for one week only.

In order of when they first reached World No.1, the 25 men who have topped the rankings are:

Timeline of the World No.1

April 6th, 1986 Bernhard Langer
April 27th, 1986 Seve Ballesteros
September 14, 1986 Greg Norman
November 22, 1987 Seve Ballesteros
November 29, 1987 Greg Norman
October 30, 1988 Seve Ballesteros
November 6, 1988 Greg Norman
November 13, 1988 Seve Ballesteros
March 26, 1989 Greg Norman
April 2, 1989 Seve Ballesteros
August 20, 1989 Greg Norman
September 2, 1990 Nick Faldo
October 14, 1990 Greg Norman
February 3, 1991 Nick Faldo
April 7, 1991 Ian Woosnam
March 22, 1992 Fred Couples
March 29, 1992 Nick Faldo
April 5, 1992 Fred Couples
July 19, 1992 Nick Faldo
February 6, 1994 Greg Norman
August 14, 1994 Nick Price
June 18, 1995 Greg Norman
April 20, 1997 Tom Lehman
April 27, 1997 Greg Norman
June 15, 1997 Tiger Woods
June 22, 1997 Ernie Els
June 29, 1997 Greg Norman
July 6, 1997 Tiger Woods
September 7, 1997 Greg Norman
January 11, 1998 Tiger Woods
April 12, 1998 Ernie Els
May 10, 1998 Tiger Woods
May 17, 1998 Ernie Els
June 14, 1998 Tiger Woods
March 28, 1999 David Duval
July 4, 1999 Tiger Woods
August 8, 1999 David Duval
August 15, 1999 Tiger Woods
September 5, 2004 Vijay Singh
March 6, 2005 Tiger Woods
March 20, 2005 Vijay Singh
April 10, 2005 Tiger Woods
May 22, 2005 Vijay Singh
June 12, 2005 Tiger Woods
October 31, 2010 Lee Westwood
February 27, 2011 Martin Kaymer
April 24, 2011 Lee Westwood
May 29, 2011 Luke Donald
March 4, 2012 Rory McIlroy
March 18, 2012 Luke Donald
April 15, 2012 Rory McIlroy
April 29, 2012 Luke Donald
May 6, 2012 Rory McIlroy
May 27, 2012 Luke Donald
August 12, 2012 Rory McIlroy
March 25, 2013 Tiger Woods
May 18, 2014 Adam Scott
August 3, 2014 Rory McIlroy
August 16, 2015 Jordan Spieth
August 30, 2015 Rory McIlroy
September 6, 2015 Jordan Spieth
September 13, 2015 Rory McIlroy
September 20, 2015 Jason Day
September 27, 2015 Jordan Spieth
October 18, 2015 Jason Day
November 8, 2015 Jordan Spieth
March 27, 2016 Jason Day
February 19, 2017 Dustin Johnson
May 13, 2018 Justin Thomas
June 10, 2018 Dustin Johnson
September 10, 2018 Justin Rose
September 23, 2018 Dustin Johnson
October 21, 2018 Brooks Koepka
November 4, 2018 Justin Rose
November 11, 2018 Brooks Koepka
November 18, 2018 Justin Rose
November 25, 2018 Brooks Koepka
January 6, 2019 Justin Rose
March 3, 2019 Dustin Johnson
April 7, 2019 Justin Rose
April 14, 2019 Dustin Johnson
May 19, 2019 Brooks Koepka
February 9, 2020 Rory McIlroy
July 19, 2020 Jon Rahm
August 2, 2020 Justin Thomas
August 9, 2020 Jon Rahm
August 23, 2020 Dustin Johnson
June 20, 2021 Jon Rahm
July 11, 2021 Dustin Johnson
July 18, 2021 Jon Rahm
March 27, 2022 Scottie Scheffler

TOPICS

Jeff graduated from Leeds University in Business Studies and Media in 1996 and did a post grad in journalism at Sheffield College in 1997. His first jobs were on Slam Dunk (basketball) and Football Monthly magazines, and he's worked for the Sunday Times, Press Association and ESPN. He has faced golfing greats Sam Torrance and Sergio Garcia, but on the poker felt rather than the golf course. Jeff's favourite course played is Sandy Lane in Barbados, which went far better than when he played Matfen Hall in Northumberland, where he crashed the buggy on the way to the 1st tee!

Timeline of the World No.1

Get the Golf Monthly Newsletter