Quiz! Can You Name All Those Male Golfers Who Have Been World No. 1?

There have been 24 World No. 1 golfers before Scottie Scheffler. Can you name them all?

Jason Day plays out of a bunker
This golfer became World No 1 in 2015
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Roderick Easdale
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This golf quiz is a chance to test your knowledge on men's World No.1s.

When Scottie Scheffler went to the top of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) for the first time, on March 27, 2022, he became the 25th different man to be ranked World No. 1 since the first rankings were drawn up on April 6, 1986. (We have a quiz on that first-ever OWGR if you fancy wracking your brains about that bit of golfing history.)

That first OWGR came out the week before The Masters and the man behind devising the system of rankings, Tony Greer, remembers that this particular set of rankings “landed like a lead balloon" in the US because the top three players on it were Europeans.

However the R&A adopted it for qualification for that year’s Open Championship, with the top 40 players on the OWGR gaining exemption.

What the R&A started, others then copied and other Majors also gave exemptions based on the world rankings. They were also used to draw up the fields for the World Golf Championships.

Two men have been World No. 1, including one who spent 56 weeks in the top spot, without ever winning a Major in their career. The most number of weeks in total that a player has spent as World No. 1 is 683; the fewest is a single week.

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Roderick Easdale
Roderick Easdale

Contributing Writer Roderick is the author of the critically acclaimed comic golf novel, Summer At Tangents. Golf courses and travel are Roderick’s particular interests. He writes travel articles and general features for the magazine, travel supplement and website. He also compiles the magazine's crossword. He is a member of Trevose Golf & Country Club and has played golf in around two dozen countries. Cricket is his other main sporting love. He is also the author of five non-fiction books, four of which are still in print: The Novel Life of PG Wodehouse; The Don: Beyond Boundaries; Wally Hammond: Gentleman & Player and England’s Greatest Post-War All Rounder.

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