It is well known that Rory McIlroy has shown impressive consistency throughout his career. However, following his win in the CJ Cup to return to the World No.1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), one statistic highlights the degree to which he has performed well throughout his career.
A tweet posted by No Laying Up lists the players in the current top 10 of the OWGR who were also in that elite group at the end of every year between 2009 and 2020. One player has been in the top 10 far more than most – McIlroy. In fact, of the 12 years No Laying Up highlights, only the four between 2017 and 2020 contain anyone else from the current top 10.
Players in the current top-10 of the OWGR that were also top-10 at the end of:'09: Rory'10: Rory'11: Rory'12: Rory'13: Rory'14: Rory'15: Rory'16: Rory'17: Rory, Rahm, JT'18: Rory, Rahm, JT, X'19: Rory, Rahm, JT, X, Cantlay'20: Rory, Rahm, JT, X, Cantlay, MorikawaOctober 24, 2022
Current World No.8 Justin Thomas and World No.5 Jon Rahm both featured in the top 10 at the end of 2017. They are joined a year later by current World No.6 Xander Schauffele, with World No.4 Patrick Cantlay added to the 2019 list. The 2020 list included McIlroy, Cantlay, Thomas, Rahm, Schauffele and current World No.9 Collin Morikawa. Those names are also present in the 2021 end-of-year list.
However, there is a small discrepancy - McIlroy was World No.10 in the rankings published for the week ending 24 December 2017 but he dipped to World No.11 as the year turned. Nevertheless, those are still hugely impressive statistics by anyone's standards.
While McIlroy’s win at Congaree has returned him to the summit for the first time since July 2020, it is his ninth appearance in the top slot – a position he has held for 107 weeks in his career to date. Before the tournament, the PGA Tour stalwart cheekily suggested he would like to hold the spot for a total of 332 weeks, in a dig at Greg Norman, the CEO of Tour rival LIV Golf, who was World No.1 for 331 weeks.
Only time will tell if McIlroy achieves that ambition. However, given his consistency since turning professional in 2007 and the fact he’s rarely been out of the top 10 since entering it for the first time in 2009, it would be hard to write off his chances.
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