The Official World Golf Ranking was launched in April 1986 in the lead up to that year’s Masters, and were then known as the Sony Rankings. The first World No.1 is also the first answer in this golf quiz.
The top three in the initial rankings were all European. The highest of the five Americans in the top ten was in fourth place. (If you wish to have a stab at naming all the top 10, we have a quiz on the First Official World Golf Ranking.)
However American national golfing pride was restored when 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus, who had been ranked 33rd on that initial listing and who had only won twice on Tour since his last Major in 1980, won that Masters.
From 1968 to 1985 Mark McCormack had published a world ranking in his World of Professional Golf Annual. His rankings considered performances in the preceding three-year period.
But Tony Greer, a civil engineer, had been working on his own system of ranking, principally for his own amusement which Mark McCormack’s International Management Group picked up on. It joined forces with the R&A, who wanted a method for determining qualifiers for The Open, to establish an official world ranking.
In all, 25 golfers have been the men’s World No.1, and 10 of these golfers have come from Europe. Can you name them all against the clock?
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