List of world number one male golfers

The following is a list of golfers who have been top of the Official World Golf Ranking. As of January 31, 2021, Dustin Johnson is the number one ranked golfer.

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).

Number one ranked men
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.
* Current number one player as of January 31, 2021
# Country Player Start date End date Number
of weeks		 Cumulative
total weeks		 Ref.
1  FRG Bernhard Langer April 6, 1986 April 26, 1986 3 3 [1]
2  ESP Seve Ballesteros April 27, 1986 September 13, 1986 20 20
3  AUS Greg Norman September 14, 1986 November 21, 1987 62 62
 ESP Seve Ballesteros (2) November 22, 1987 November 28, 1987 1 21 [2]
 AUS Greg Norman (2) November 29, 1987 October 29, 1988 48 110 [3]
 ESP Seve Ballesteros (3) October 30, 1988 November 5, 1988 1 22 [4]
 AUS Greg Norman (3) November 6, 1988 November 12, 1988 1 111 [5]
 ESP Seve Ballesteros (4) November 13, 1988 March 25, 1989 19 41 [6]
 AUS Greg Norman (4) March 26, 1989 April 1, 1989 1 112 [7]
 ESP Seve Ballesteros (5) April 2, 1989 August 19, 1989 20 61 [8]
 AUS Greg Norman (5) August 20, 1989 September 1, 1990 54 166 [9]
4  ENG Nick Faldo September 2, 1990 October 13, 1990 6 6 [10]
 AUS Greg Norman (6) October 14, 1990 February 2, 1991 16 182 [11]
 ENG Nick Faldo (2) February 3, 1991 April 6, 1991 9 15
5  WAL Ian Woosnam April 7, 1991 March 21, 1992 50 50
6  USA Fred Couples March 22, 1992 March 28, 1992 1 1
 ENG Nick Faldo (3) March 29, 1992 April 4, 1992 1 16
 USA Fred Couples (2) April 5, 1992 July 18, 1992 15 16
 ENG Nick Faldo (4) July 19, 1992 February 5, 1994 81 97
 AUS Greg Norman (7) February 6, 1994 August 13, 1994 27 209
7  ZIM Nick Price August 14, 1994 June 17, 1995 44 44
 AUS Greg Norman (8) June 18, 1995 April 19, 1997 96 305
8  USA Tom Lehman April 20, 1997 April 26, 1997 1 1
 AUS Greg Norman (9) April 27, 1997 June 14, 1997 7 312
9  USA Tiger Woods June 15, 1997 June 21, 1997 1 1
10  ZAF Ernie Els June 22, 1997 June 28, 1997 1 1
 AUS Greg Norman (10) June 29, 1997 July 5, 1997 1 313
 USA Tiger Woods (2) July 6, 1997 September 6, 1997 9 10
 AUS Greg Norman (11) September 7, 1997 January 10, 1998 18 331
 USA Tiger Woods (3) January 11, 1998 April 11, 1998 13 23
 ZAF Ernie Els (2) April 12, 1998 May 9, 1998 4 5
 USA Tiger Woods (4) May 10, 1998 May 16, 1998 1 24
 ZAF Ernie Els (3) May 17, 1998 June 13, 1998 4 9
 USA Tiger Woods (5) June 14, 1998 March 27, 1999 41 65
11  USA David Duval March 28, 1999 July 3, 1999 14 14
 USA Tiger Woods (6) July 4, 1999 August 7, 1999 5 70
 USA David Duval (2) August 8, 1999 August 14, 1999 1 15
 USA Tiger Woods (7) August 15, 1999 September 4, 2004 264 334
12  FJI Vijay Singh September 5, 2004 March 5, 2005 26 26
 USA Tiger Woods (8) March 6, 2005 March 19, 2005 2 336
 FJI Vijay Singh (2) March 20, 2005 April 9, 2005 3 29
 USA Tiger Woods (9) April 10, 2005 May 21, 2005 6 342
 FJI Vijay Singh (3) May 22, 2005 June 11, 2005 3 32
 USA Tiger Woods (10) June 12, 2005 October 30, 2010 281 (record) 623
13  ENG Lee Westwood October 31, 2010 February 26, 2011 17 17 [12][13]
14  DEU Martin Kaymer February 27, 2011 April 23, 2011 8 8
 ENG Lee Westwood (2) April 24, 2011 May 28, 2011 5 22
15  ENG Luke Donald May 29, 2011 March 3, 2012 40 40
16  NIR Rory McIlroy March 4, 2012 March 17, 2012 2 2 [14]
 ENG Luke Donald (2) March 18, 2012 April 14, 2012 4 44 [15]
 NIR Rory McIlroy (2) April 15, 2012 April 28, 2012 2 4 [16]
 ENG Luke Donald (3) April 29, 2012 May 5, 2012 1 45 [17]
 NIR Rory McIlroy (3) May 6, 2012 May 26, 2012 3 7 [18]
 ENG Luke Donald (4) May 27, 2012 August 11, 2012 11 56 [19]
 NIR Rory McIlroy (4) August 12, 2012 March 24, 2013 32 39
 USA Tiger Woods (11) March 25, 2013 May 17, 2014 60 683 (record)
17  AUS Adam Scott May 18, 2014 August 2, 2014 11 11
 NIR Rory McIlroy (5) August 3, 2014 August 15, 2015 54 93
18  USA Jordan Spieth August 16, 2015 August 29, 2015 2 2
 NIR Rory McIlroy (6) August 30, 2015 September 5, 2015 1 94
 USA Jordan Spieth (2) September 6, 2015 September 12, 2015 1 3
 NIR Rory McIlroy (7) September 13, 2015 September 19, 2015 1 95
19  AUS Jason Day September 20, 2015 September 26, 2015 1 1
 USA Jordan Spieth (3) September 27, 2015 October 17, 2015 3 6
 AUS Jason Day (2) October 18, 2015 November 7, 2015 3 4
 USA Jordan Spieth (4) November 8, 2015 March 26, 2016 20 26
 AUS Jason Day (3) March 27, 2016 February 18, 2017 47 51
20  USA Dustin Johnson February 19, 2017 May 12, 2018 64 64
21  USA Justin Thomas May 13, 2018 June 9, 2018 4 4
 USA Dustin Johnson (2) June 10, 2018 September 9, 2018 13 77
22  ENG Justin Rose September 10, 2018 September 22, 2018 2 2
 USA Dustin Johnson (3) September 23, 2018 October 20, 2018 4 81
23  USA Brooks Koepka October 21, 2018 November 3, 2018 2 2
 ENG Justin Rose (2) November 4, 2018 November 10, 2018 1 3
 USA Brooks Koepka (2) November 11, 2018 November 17, 2018 1 3
 ENG Justin Rose (3) November 18, 2018 November 24, 2018 1 4
 USA Brooks Koepka (3) November 25, 2018 January 5, 2019 6 9
 ENG Justin Rose (4) January 6, 2019 March 2, 2019 8 12
 USA Dustin Johnson (4) March 3, 2019 April 6, 2019 5 86
 ENG Justin Rose (5) April 7, 2019 April 13, 2019 1 13
 USA Dustin Johnson (5) April 14, 2019 May 18, 2019 5 91
 USA Brooks Koepka (4) May 19, 2019 February 8, 2020 38 47
 NIR Rory McIlroy (8) February 9, 2020 July 18, 2020 11[lower-alpha 1] 106[lower-alpha 1]
24  ESP Jon Rahm July 19, 2020 August 1, 2020 2 2
 USA Justin Thomas (2) August 2, 2020 August 8, 2020 1 5
 ESP Jon Rahm (2) August 9, 2020 August 22, 2020 2 4
 USA Dustin Johnson (6)* August 23, 2020 Present 24 115

Weeks at number one
* Current number one player as of January 31, 2021
Rank Player Country Weeks Order Majors
1 Tiger Woods  United States 683 9 15
2 Greg Norman  Australia 331 3 2
3 Dustin Johnson*  United States 115 20 2
4 Rory McIlroy  Northern Ireland 106[lower-alpha 1] 16 4
5 Nick Faldo  England 97 4 6
6 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 61 2 5
7 Luke Donald  England 56 15 0
8 Jason Day  Australia 51 19 1
9 Ian Woosnam  Wales 50 5 1
10 Brooks Koepka  United States 47 23 4
11 Nick Price  Zimbabwe 44 7 3
12 Vijay Singh  Fiji 32 12 3
13 Jordan Spieth  United States 26 18 3
14 Lee Westwood  England 22 13 0
15 Fred Couples  United States 16 6 1
16 David Duval  United States 15 11 1
17 Justin Rose  England 13 22 1
18 Adam Scott  Australia 11 17 1
19 Ernie Els  South Africa 9 10 4
20 Martin Kaymer  Germany 8 14 2
21 Justin Thomas  United States 5 21 1
22 Jon Rahm  Spain 4 24 0
23 Bernhard Langer  West Germany 3 1 2
24 Tom Lehman  United States 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
* Country with the current number one player as of January 31, 2021
Rank Country Weeks Order Majors Players Top player First player Latest player Zone
1  United States* 907 6 28 8 Tiger Woods Fred Couples Dustin Johnson USA
2  Australia 394 3 4 3 Greg Norman Greg Norman Jason Day IT
3  England 188 4 7 4 Nick Faldo Nick Faldo Justin Rose EUR
4  Northern Ireland 106[lower-alpha 1] 10 4 1 Rory McIlroy EUR
5  Spain 65 2 5 2 Seve Ballesteros Seve Ballesteros Jon Rahm EUR
6  Wales 50 5 1 1 Ian Woosnam EUR
7  Zimbabwe 44 7 3 1 Nick Price IT
8  Fiji 32 9 3 1 Vijay Singh IT
9  Germany (including West Germany) 11 1 4 2 Martin Kaymer Bernhard Langer Martin Kaymer EUR
10  South Africa 9 8 4 1 Ernie Els IT

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.
Zone – The zone to which that country now belongs for Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup purposes:

  • EUR = Europe (plays in Ryder Cup)
  • IT = International Team (plays in Presidents Cup)
    •
  • USA = United States of America (plays in both cups)

Earlier number ones

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

Notes
  1. The rankings were frozen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rankings were produced on 15 March 2020 and restarted on 14 June 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
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.
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