Players who have been ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking
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Players who have been ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking

A photo of golfer Brooks Koepka
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Since the Official World Golf Ranking was introduced in 1986, 25 players have reached the No. 1 ranking in the world.

Jon Rahm became the No. 1 golfer in the world after winning the 2023 Masters, and he has maintained that top spot since.

Rory McIlroy took over the top spot on Oct. 23, 2022, after winning the CJ Cup for the second year in a row. He last held the top spot in July 2020.

Scottie Scheffler became No. 1 in the world for the first time on March 27, 2022, taking over for Jon Rahm atop the Official World Golf Ranking with a win in the 2022 WGC Dell Technologies Match Play. It is his first run at the top of the world ranking, overtaking Rahm, who was the 24th person to take the top ranking in the world.

Rory McIlroy became world No. 1 again on Feb. 10, 2020, overtaking Brooks Koepka to earn a 96th week atop the Official World Golf Ranking. McIlroy was last world No. 1 on Sept. 19, 2015, meaning there were 1,605 days between his last two stints at the top of the mountain. That's the longest gap in OWGR history, surpassing the 1,100 days between Greg Norman's No. 1 stints, with one ending Feb. 2, 1991 and taking back over on Feb. 6, 1994.

Brooks Koepka became the 23rd male player to be ranked No. 1 in the world ranking, taking over for Dustin Johnson on Oct. 22, 2018, when he won the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges to jump from third to first, passing both Johnson and Justin Rose, who became the 22nd male player to be ranked No. 1 in the world ranking on Sept. 10, 2018 when he finished second at the BMW Championship. Rose also supplanted Dustin Johnson, who had completed his 77th cumulative week at No. 1.

Justin Thomas became the 21st player to reach the top spot in the world ranking on May 13, 2018, when he ended Dustin Johnson's 64-week run atop the OWGR. Johnson first took the top spot on Feb. 19, 2017, when he won the 2017 Genesis Open, unseating Jason Day after 47 consecutive weeks at the top of the ranking.

Who has spent the most weeks at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking?

Tiger Woods holds the most weeks at No. 1, having held the top spot for 683 weeks in his career. He spent more than 13 years at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, including a preposterous 281 weeks from June 12, 2005 to Oct. 30, 2010.

Greg Norman is next best on the list at 331 total weeks atop the ranking.

Of the 25 players to hold the No. 1 ranking, only one has held it for one total week: Tom Lehman from Apr. 20-26, 1997.

Let's take a look at the order in which players have been No. 1 in the world and for how many cumulative weeks each player has held the top spot.

Players who have been ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking

Weeks as of Aug. 14, 2023

ORDER PLAYER No. 1 WEEKS
1 Bernhard Langer 3
2 Seve Ballesteros 61
3 Greg Norman 331
4 Nick Faldo 97
5 Ian Woosnam 50
6 Fred Couples 16
7 Nick Price 44
8 Tom Lehman 1
9 Tiger Woods 683
10 Ernie Els 9
11 David Duval 15
12 Vijay Singh 32
13 Lee Westwood 22
14 Martin Kaymer 8
15 Luke Donald 56
16 Rory McIlroy 122
17 Adam Scott 11
18 Jordan Spieth 26
19 Jason Day 51
20 Dustin Johnson 91
21 Justin Thomas 4
22 Justin Rose 13
23 Brooks Koepka 47
24 Jon Rahm 52
25 Scottie Scheffler 48

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is the founder, owner and operator of Golf News Net.

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