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List of world number one male golfers

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Tiger Woods with his club behind his after after finishing his swing.
Tiger Woods, the record holder of most weeks spent as world No. 1.

The following is a list of golfers who have been top of the Official World Golf Ranking (originally known as the Sony Ranking), since the rankings started on April 6, 1986. As of November 17, 2024, Scottie Scheffler is the number one ranked golfer.

The rankings are calculated each week based on finishing positions in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling" two-year period with a maximum of 52 tournaments and a minimum divisor of 40 events. During 2018, nearly 400 tournaments on 20 tours were covered by the ranking system. All players competing in these tournaments are included in the rankings. In 2023, 24 tours factored into the world rankings.

A total of 25 different golfers from ten countries spanning four continents have been ranked world number one. Five countries; the United States, England, Australia, Spain and Germany have had multiple world number ones. The United States has had nine golfers ranked number one, the most of any country.

Tiger Woods has spent the most consecutive weeks (281) and most total weeks (683) at the top of the rankings, and Tom Lehman the fewest total weeks, having spent just a single week at the top in April 1997. Three golfers have spent an entire calendar year atop the rankings: Nick Faldo (1993), Greg Norman (1996), and Woods (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Lee Westwood and Luke Donald are the only world number one golfers to have not won a major championship.

Number one ranked men

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Note 1: In the first column, each number signifies the first time that golfer was ranked number one.
Note 2: In the "Cumulative total" column, each boldface number signifies total weeks as of the most recent time that golfer was ranked number one.
Bernard Langer crouched down to analyze a shot.
Bernhard Langer was the first golfer to be ranked world No. 1.
Professional headshot of Greg Norman.
Greg Norman spent the most weeks atop of the world rankings in both the 1980s and 1990s.
Nick Faldo headshot.
Nick Faldo is one of only three players to have held the world No. 1 ranking for an entire calendar year, doing so in 1993.
Vijay Singh walking.
Vijay Singh was the only golfer other than Woods to be ranked world No. 1 in the 2000s.
Duston Johnson just after completing a drive
Dustin Johnson's 135 weeks spent atop the world rankings are the 3rd most of all time.
Rory McIlroy looking at his club.
Rory McIlroy was the world No. 1 for 95 weeks in the 2010s, the most of any golfer.
* Current number one player as of November 17, 2024
# Country Player Start date End date Number
of weeks 		Cumulative
total weeks 		Ref.
1  West Germany Bernhard Langer April 6, 1986 April 26, 1986 3 3 [1]
2  Spain Seve Ballesteros April 27, 1986 September 13, 1986 20 20
3  Australia Greg Norman September 14, 1986 November 21, 1987 62 62
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (2) November 22, 1987 November 28, 1987 1 21 [2]
 Australia Greg Norman (2) November 29, 1987 October 29, 1988 48 110 [3]
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (3) October 30, 1988 November 5, 1988 1 22 [4]
 Australia Greg Norman (3) November 6, 1988 November 12, 1988 1 111 [5]
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (4) November 13, 1988 March 25, 1989 19 41 [6]
 Australia Greg Norman (4) March 26, 1989 April 1, 1989 1 112 [7]
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (5) April 2, 1989 August 19, 1989 20 61 [8]
 Australia Greg Norman (5) August 20, 1989 September 1, 1990 54 166 [9]
4  England Nick Faldo September 2, 1990 October 13, 1990 6 6 [10]
 Australia Greg Norman (6) October 14, 1990 February 2, 1991 16 182 [11]
 England Nick Faldo (2) February 3, 1991 April 6, 1991 9 15
5  Wales Ian Woosnam April 7, 1991 March 21, 1992 50 50
6  United States Fred Couples March 22, 1992 March 28, 1992 1 1
 England Nick Faldo (3) March 29, 1992 April 4, 1992 1 16
 United States Fred Couples (2) April 5, 1992 July 18, 1992 15 16
 England Nick Faldo (4) July 19, 1992 February 5, 1994 81 97
 Australia Greg Norman (7) February 6, 1994 August 13, 1994 27 209
7  Zimbabwe Nick Price August 14, 1994 June 17, 1995 44 44
 Australia Greg Norman (8) June 18, 1995 April 19, 1997 96 305
8  United States Tom Lehman April 20, 1997 April 26, 1997 1 1
 Australia Greg Norman (9) April 27, 1997 June 14, 1997 7 312
9  United States Tiger Woods June 15, 1997 June 21, 1997 1 1
10  South Africa Ernie Els June 22, 1997 June 28, 1997 1 1
 Australia Greg Norman (10) June 29, 1997 July 5, 1997 1 313
 United States Tiger Woods (2) July 6, 1997 September 6, 1997 9 10
 Australia Greg Norman (11) September 7, 1997 January 10, 1998 18 331
 United States Tiger Woods (3) January 11, 1998 April 11, 1998 13 23
 South Africa Ernie Els (2) April 12, 1998 May 9, 1998 4 5
 United States Tiger Woods (4) May 10, 1998 May 16, 1998 1 24
 South Africa Ernie Els (3) May 17, 1998 June 13, 1998 4 9
 United States Tiger Woods (5) June 14, 1998 March 27, 1999 41 65
11  United States David Duval March 28, 1999 July 3, 1999 14 14
 United States Tiger Woods (6) July 4, 1999 August 7, 1999 5 70
 United States David Duval (2) August 8, 1999 August 14, 1999 1 15
 United States Tiger Woods (7) August 15, 1999 September 4, 2004 264 334
12  Fiji Vijay Singh September 5, 2004 March 5, 2005 26 26
 United States Tiger Woods (8) March 6, 2005 March 19, 2005 2 336
 Fiji Vijay Singh (2) March 20, 2005 April 9, 2005 3 29
 United States Tiger Woods (9) April 10, 2005 May 21, 2005 6 342
 Fiji Vijay Singh (3) May 22, 2005 June 11, 2005 3 32
 United States Tiger Woods (10) June 12, 2005 October 30, 2010 281 (record) 623
13  England Lee Westwood October 31, 2010 February 26, 2011 17 17 [12][13]
14  Germany Martin Kaymer February 27, 2011 April 23, 2011 8 8
 England Lee Westwood (2) April 24, 2011 May 28, 2011 5 22
15  England Luke Donald May 29, 2011 March 3, 2012 40 40
16  Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy March 4, 2012 March 17, 2012 2 2 [14]
 England Luke Donald (2) March 18, 2012 April 14, 2012 4 44 [15]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (2) April 15, 2012 April 28, 2012 2 4 [16]
 England Luke Donald (3) April 29, 2012 May 5, 2012 1 45 [17]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (3) May 6, 2012 May 26, 2012 3 7 [18]
 England Luke Donald (4) May 27, 2012 August 11, 2012 11 56 [19]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (4) August 12, 2012 March 24, 2013 32 39
 United States Tiger Woods (11) March 25, 2013 May 17, 2014 60 683 (record)
17  Australia Adam Scott May 18, 2014 August 2, 2014 11 11
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (5) August 3, 2014 August 15, 2015 54 93
18  United States Jordan Spieth August 16, 2015 August 29, 2015 2 2
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (6) August 30, 2015 September 5, 2015 1 94
 United States Jordan Spieth (2) September 6, 2015 September 12, 2015 1 3
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (7) September 13, 2015 September 19, 2015 1 95
19  Australia Jason Day September 20, 2015 September 26, 2015 1 1
 United States Jordan Spieth (3) September 27, 2015 October 17, 2015 3 6
 Australia Jason Day (2) October 18, 2015 November 7, 2015 3 4
 United States Jordan Spieth (4) November 8, 2015 March 26, 2016 20 26
 Australia Jason Day (3) March 27, 2016 February 18, 2017 47 51
20  United States Dustin Johnson February 19, 2017 May 12, 2018 64 64
21  United States Justin Thomas May 13, 2018 June 9, 2018 4 4
 United States Dustin Johnson (2) June 10, 2018 September 9, 2018 13 77
22  England Justin Rose September 10, 2018 September 22, 2018 2 2
 United States Dustin Johnson (3) September 23, 2018 October 20, 2018 4 81
23  United States Brooks Koepka October 21, 2018 November 3, 2018 2 2
 England Justin Rose (2) November 4, 2018 November 10, 2018 1 3
 United States Brooks Koepka (2) November 11, 2018 November 17, 2018 1 3
 England Justin Rose (3) November 18, 2018 November 24, 2018 1 4
 United States Brooks Koepka (3) November 25, 2018 January 5, 2019 6 9
 England Justin Rose (4) January 6, 2019 March 2, 2019 8 12
 United States Dustin Johnson (4) March 3, 2019 April 6, 2019 5 86
 England Justin Rose (5) April 7, 2019 April 13, 2019 1 13
 United States Dustin Johnson (5) April 14, 2019 May 18, 2019 5 91
 United States Brooks Koepka (4) May 19, 2019 February 8, 2020 38 47
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (8) February 9, 2020 July 18, 2020 11[a] 106[a]
24  Spain Jon Rahm July 19, 2020 August 1, 2020 2 2
 United States Justin Thomas (2) August 2, 2020 August 8, 2020 1 5
 Spain Jon Rahm (2) August 9, 2020 August 22, 2020 2 4
 United States Dustin Johnson (6) August 23, 2020 June 19, 2021 43 134
 Spain Jon Rahm (3) June 20, 2021 July 10, 2021 3 7
 United States Dustin Johnson (7) July 11, 2021 July 17, 2021 1 135
 Spain Jon Rahm (4) July 18, 2021 March 26, 2022 36 43
25  United States Scottie Scheffler March 27, 2022 October 22, 2022 30 30 [20]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (9) October 23, 2022 February 11, 2023 16 122
 United States Scottie Scheffler (2) February 12, 2023 February 18, 2023 1 31
 Spain Jon Rahm (5) February 19, 2023 March 11, 2023 3 46
 United States Scottie Scheffler (3) March 12, 2023 April 8, 2023 4 35
 Spain Jon Rahm (6) April 9, 2023 May 20, 2023 6 52
 United States Scottie Scheffler (4)* May 21, 2023 Present 79 114

Weeks at number one

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* Current number one player as of November 17, 2024
Rank Player Weeks Order Majors
1 United States Tiger Woods 683 9 15
2 Australia Greg Norman 331 3 2
3 United States Dustin Johnson 135 20 2
4 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy 122[a] 16 4
5 United States Scottie Scheffler* 114 25 2
6 England Nick Faldo 97 4 6
7 Spain Seve Ballesteros 61 2 5
8 England Luke Donald 56 15 0
9 Spain Jon Rahm 52 24 2
10 Australia Jason Day 51 19 1
11 Wales Ian Woosnam 50 5 1
12 United States Brooks Koepka 47 23 5
13 Zimbabwe Nick Price 44 7 3
14 Fiji Vijay Singh 32 12 3
15 United States Jordan Spieth 26 18 3
16 England Lee Westwood 22 13 0
17 United States Fred Couples 16 6 1
18 United States David Duval 15 11 1
19 England Justin Rose 13 22 1
20 Australia Adam Scott 11 17 1
21 South Africa Ernie Els 9 10 4
22 Germany Martin Kaymer 8 14 2
23 United States Justin Thomas 5 21 2
24 West Germany Bernhard Langer 3 1 2
25 United States Tom Lehman 1 8 1

Order – indicates the sequence in which the players first reached number 1.
Majors – number of major championships each player has won throughout his golfing career.

Weeks at number one by country

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* Country with the current number one player as of November 17, 2024
Rank Country Weeks Order Majors Players Top player First player Latest player
1  United States* 1,042 6 32 9 Tiger Woods Fred Couples Scottie Scheffler
2  Australia 393 3 4 3 Greg Norman Greg Norman Jason Day
3  England 188 4 7 4 Nick Faldo Nick Faldo Justin Rose
4  Northern Ireland 122[a] 10 4 1 Rory McIlroy
5  Spain 113 2 7 2 Seve Ballesteros Seve Ballesteros Jon Rahm
6  Wales 50 5 1 1 Ian Woosnam
7  Zimbabwe 44 7 3 1 Nick Price
8  Fiji 32 9 3 1 Vijay Singh
9  Germany (including West Germany) 11 1 4 2 Martin Kaymer Bernhard Langer Martin Kaymer
10  South Africa 9 8 4 1 Ernie Els

Order – indicates the sequence in which the country first had a number 1 player.
Majors – number of major championships the country's world-ranked number 1 players have won throughout their golfing careers.
Players – number of players from that country who have been world-ranked number 1.
Top player – the player from that country who has spent most weeks as the world-ranked number 1 player.
First player – the player from that country who was first to be world-ranked number 1 player, left blank if that country has only one such player.
Latest player – the player from that country who was most recently world-ranked number 1 player, left blank if that country has only one such player.

Earlier number ones

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Before the start of the Official World Golf Ranking in 1986, unofficial end of year world golf rankings were published by Mark McCormack in his World of Professional Golf annual from 1968 to 1985. McCormack's rankings listed Jack Nicklaus as the number one from 1968 to 1977, Tom Watson from 1978 to 1982 and Seve Ballesteros from 1983 to 1985.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d The rankings were frozen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rankings were produced on March 15, 2020 and restarted on June 14, 2020. No rankings were produced for the 12 weeks between these dates and so Rory McIlroy's total weeks at number one do not include these 12 weeks.

References

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General
  • "Official World Golf Ranking". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
  • "Number 1 Golf Rankings". Retrieved 2012-03-20.
Specific
  1. ^ "Week ending April 6th 1986" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  2. ^ "Week ending November 22nd 1987" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  3. ^ "Week ending November 29th 1987" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  4. ^ "Week ending October 30th 1988" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  5. ^ "Week ending November 6th 1988" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  6. ^ "Week ending November 13th 1988" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  7. ^ "Week ending March 26th 1989" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  8. ^ "Week ending April 2nd 1989" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  9. ^ "Week ending August 20th 1989" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  10. ^ "Week ending September 2nd 1990" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  11. ^ "Week ending October 14th 1990" (pdf). Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  12. ^ "Lee Westwood is world golf No. 1". ESPN. 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
  13. ^ "Lee Westwood becomes world number one as Kaymer falters". BBC Sport. 2010-10-31. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  14. ^ Donegan, Lawrence (2012-03-05). "Rory McIlroy climbs to world No1 after Honda Classic win". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
  15. ^ "Luke Donald back to World Number One after play-off victory at the Transitions Championship". Archived from the original on 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2012-03-20.
  16. ^ "Luke Donald loses world No 1 ranking to Rory McIlroy". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2012-04-16. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  17. ^ "Luke Donald finishes third in New Orleans to regain No1 spot". The Guardian. London. 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
  18. ^ "McIlroy snatches world No. 1 ranking from Donald". ESPN. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
  19. ^ Corrigan, James (2012-05-27). "Luke Donald's PGA Championship master class at Wentworth takes him back to world No 1 spot". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2012-05-28.
  20. ^ "Dallas resident, Texas alum Scottie Scheffler claims world No. 1 golf ranking, wins Dell Match Play". Dallas News. 2022-03-27. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
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