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List of world number one male golfers

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Tiger Woods with his club behind his head 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 6 April 1986. As of 10 May 2026, 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 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. Four golfers have spent one or more entire calendar years atop the rankings: Nick Faldo (1993), Greg Norman (1996), Woods (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009), and Scheffler (2024, 2025). Lee Westwood and Luke Donald are the only world number one golfers to have not won a major championship. The youngest to reach No. 1 was Woods, at 21 years, 167 days old, and Lehman was the oldest at 38 years, 44 days old.

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 five 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 4th 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 10 May 2026
# Country Player Start date End date Number
of weeks 		Cumulative
total weeks 		Ref.
1  West Germany Bernhard Langer 6 April 1986 (1986-04-06) 26 April 1986 (1986-04-26) 3 3 [1]
2  Spain Seve Ballesteros 27 April 1986 (1986-04-27) 13 September 1986 (1986-09-13) 20 20
3  Australia Greg Norman 14 September 1986 (1986-09-14) 21 November 1987 (1987-11-21) 62 62
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (2) 22 November 1987 (1987-11-22) 28 November 1987 (1987-11-28) 1 21 [2]
 Australia Greg Norman (2) 29 November 1987 (1987-11-29) 29 October 1988 (1988-10-29) 48 110 [3]
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (3) 30 October 1988 (1988-10-30) 5 November 1988 (1988-11-05) 1 22 [4]
 Australia Greg Norman (3) 6 November 1988 (1988-11-06) 12 November 1988 (1988-11-12) 1 111 [5]
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (4) 13 November 1988 (1988-11-13) 25 March 1989 (1989-03-25) 19 41 [6]
 Australia Greg Norman (4) 26 March 1989 (1989-03-26) 1 April 1989 (1989-04-01) 1 112 [7]
 Spain Seve Ballesteros (5) 2 April 1989 (1989-04-02) 19 August 1989 (1989-08-19) 20 61 [8]
 Australia Greg Norman (5) 20 August 1989 (1989-08-20) 1 September 1990 (1990-09-01) 54 166 [9]
4  England Nick Faldo 2 September 1990 (1990-09-02) 13 October 1990 (1990-10-13) 6 6 [10]
 Australia Greg Norman (6) 14 October 1990 (1990-10-14) 2 February 1991 (1991-02-02) 16 182 [11]
 England Nick Faldo (2) 3 February 1991 (1991-02-03) 6 April 1991 (1991-04-06) 9 15
5  Wales Ian Woosnam 7 April 1991 (1991-04-07) 21 March 1992 (1992-03-21) 50 50
6  United States Fred Couples 22 March 1992 (1992-03-22) 28 March 1992 (1992-03-28) 1 1
 England Nick Faldo (3) 29 March 1992 (1992-03-29) 4 April 1992 (1992-04-04) 1 16
 United States Fred Couples (2) 5 April 1992 (1992-04-05) 18 July 1992 (1992-07-18) 15 16
 England Nick Faldo (4) 19 July 1992 (1992-07-19) 5 February 1994 (1994-02-05) 81 97
 Australia Greg Norman (7) 6 February 1994 (1994-02-06) 13 August 1994 (1994-08-13) 27 209
7  Zimbabwe Nick Price 14 August 1994 (1994-08-14) 17 June 1995 (1995-06-17) 44 44
 Australia Greg Norman (8) 18 June 1995 (1995-06-18) 19 April 1997 (1997-04-19) 96 305
8  United States Tom Lehman 20 April 1997 (1997-04-20) 26 April 1997 (1997-04-26) 1 1
 Australia Greg Norman (9) 27 April 1997 (1997-04-27) 14 June 1997 (1997-06-14) 7 312
9  United States Tiger Woods 15 June 1997 (1997-06-15) 21 June 1997 (1997-06-21) 1 1
10  South Africa Ernie Els 22 June 1997 (1997-06-22) 28 June 1997 (1997-06-28) 1 1
 Australia Greg Norman (10) 29 June 1997 (1997-06-29) 5 July 1997 (1997-07-05) 1 313
 United States Tiger Woods (2) 6 July 1997 (1997-07-06) 6 September 1997 (1997-09-06) 9 10
 Australia Greg Norman (11) 7 September 1997 (1997-09-07) 10 January 1998 (1998-01-10) 18 331
 United States Tiger Woods (3) 11 January 1998 (1998-01-11) 11 April 1998 (1998-04-11) 13 23
 South Africa Ernie Els (2) 12 April 1998 (1998-04-12) 9 May 1998 (1998-05-09) 4 5
 United States Tiger Woods (4) 10 May 1998 (1998-05-10) 16 May 1998 (1998-05-16) 1 24
 South Africa Ernie Els (3) 17 May 1998 (1998-05-17) 13 June 1998 (1998-06-13) 4 9
 United States Tiger Woods (5) 14 June 1998 (1998-06-14) 27 March 1999 (1999-03-27) 41 65
11  United States David Duval 28 March 1999 (1999-03-28) 3 July 1999 (1999-07-03) 14 14
 United States Tiger Woods (6) 4 July 1999 (1999-07-04) 7 August 1999 (1999-08-07) 5 70
 United States David Duval (2) 8 August 1999 (1999-08-08) 14 August 1999 (1999-08-14) 1 15
 United States Tiger Woods (7) 15 August 1999 (1999-08-15) 4 September 2004 (2004-09-04) 264 334
12  Fiji Vijay Singh 5 September 2004 (2004-09-05) 5 March 2005 (2005-03-05) 26 26
 United States Tiger Woods (8) 6 March 2005 (2005-03-06) 19 March 2005 (2005-03-19) 2 336
 Fiji Vijay Singh (2) 20 March 2005 (2005-03-20) 9 April 2005 (2005-04-09) 3 29
 United States Tiger Woods (9) 10 April 2005 (2005-04-10) 21 May 2005 (2005-05-21) 6 342
 Fiji Vijay Singh (3) 22 May 2005 (2005-05-22) 11 June 2005 (2005-06-11) 3 32
 United States Tiger Woods (10) 12 June 2005 (2005-06-12) 30 October 2010 (2010-10-30) 281 (record) 623
13  England Lee Westwood 31 October 2010 (2010-10-31) 26 February 2011 (2011-02-26) 17 17 [12][13]
14  Germany Martin Kaymer 27 February 2011 (2011-02-27) 23 April 2011 (2011-04-23) 8 8
 England Lee Westwood (2) 24 April 2011 (2011-04-24) 28 May 2011 (2011-05-28) 5 22
15  England Luke Donald 29 May 2011 (2011-05-29) 3 March 2012 (2012-03-03) 40 40
16  Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy 4 March 2012 (2012-03-04) 17 March 2012 (2012-03-17) 2 2 [14]
 England Luke Donald (2) 18 March 2012 (2012-03-18) 14 April 2012 (2012-04-14) 4 44 [15]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (2) 15 April 2012 (2012-04-15) 28 April 2012 (2012-04-28) 2 4 [16]
 England Luke Donald (3) 29 April 2012 (2012-04-29) 5 May 2012 (2012-05-05) 1 45 [17]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (3) 6 May 2012 (2012-05-06) 26 May 2012 (2012-05-26) 3 7 [18]
 England Luke Donald (4) 27 May 2012 (2012-05-27) 11 August 2012 (2012-08-11) 11 56 [19]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (4) 12 August 2012 (2012-08-12) 24 March 2013 (2013-03-24) 32 39
 United States Tiger Woods (11) 25 March 2013 (2013-03-25) 17 May 2014 (2014-05-17) 60 683 (record)
17  Australia Adam Scott 18 May 2014 (2014-05-18) 2 August 2014 (2014-08-02) 11 11
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (5) 3 August 2014 (2014-08-03) 15 August 2015 (2015-08-15) 54 93
18  United States Jordan Spieth 16 August 2015 (2015-08-16) 29 August 2015 (2015-08-29) 2 2
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (6) 30 August 2015 (2015-08-30) 5 September 2015 (2015-09-05) 1 94
 United States Jordan Spieth (2) 6 September 2015 (2015-09-06) 12 September 2015 (2015-09-12) 1 3
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (7) 13 September 2015 (2015-09-13) 19 September 2015 (2015-09-19) 1 95
19  Australia Jason Day 20 September 2015 (2015-09-20) 26 September 2015 (2015-09-26) 1 1
 United States Jordan Spieth (3) 27 September 2015 (2015-09-27) 17 October 2015 (2015-10-17) 3 6
 Australia Jason Day (2) 18 October 2015 (2015-10-18) 7 November 2015 (2015-11-07) 3 4
 United States Jordan Spieth (4) 8 November 2015 (2015-11-08) 26 March 2016 (2016-03-26) 20 26
 Australia Jason Day (3) 27 March 2016 (2016-03-27) 18 February 2017 (2017-02-18) 47 51
20  United States Dustin Johnson 19 February 2017 (2017-02-19) 12 May 2018 (2018-05-12) 64 64
21  United States Justin Thomas 13 May 2018 (2018-05-13) 9 June 2018 (2018-06-09) 4 4
 United States Dustin Johnson (2) 10 June 2018 (2018-06-10) 9 September 2018 (2018-09-09) 13 77
22  England Justin Rose 10 September 2018 (2018-09-10) 22 September 2018 (2018-09-22) 2 2
 United States Dustin Johnson (3) 23 September 2018 (2018-09-23) 20 October 2018 (2018-10-20) 4 81
23  United States Brooks Koepka 21 October 2018 (2018-10-21) 3 November 2018 (2018-11-03) 2 2
 England Justin Rose (2) 4 November 2018 (2018-11-04) 10 November 2018 (2018-11-10) 1 3
 United States Brooks Koepka (2) 11 November 2018 (2018-11-11) 17 November 2018 (2018-11-17) 1 3
 England Justin Rose (3) 18 November 2018 (2018-11-18) 24 November 2018 (2018-11-24) 1 4
 United States Brooks Koepka (3) 25 November 2018 (2018-11-25) 5 January 2019 (2019-01-05) 6 9
 England Justin Rose (4) 6 January 2019 (2019-01-06) 2 March 2019 (2019-03-02) 8 12
 United States Dustin Johnson (4) 3 March 2019 (2019-03-03) 6 April 2019 (2019-04-06) 5 86
 England Justin Rose (5) 7 April 2019 (2019-04-07) 13 April 2019 (2019-04-13) 1 13
 United States Dustin Johnson (5) 14 April 2019 (2019-04-14) 18 May 2019 (2019-05-18) 5 91
 United States Brooks Koepka (4) 19 May 2019 (2019-05-19) 8 February 2020 (2020-02-08) 38 47
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (8) 9 February 2020 (2020-02-09) 18 July 2020 (2020-07-18) 11[a] 106[a]
24  Spain Jon Rahm 19 July 2020 (2020-07-19) 1 August 2020 (2020-08-01) 2 2
 United States Justin Thomas (2) 2 August 2020 (2020-08-02) 8 August 2020 (2020-08-08) 1 5
 Spain Jon Rahm (2) 9 August 2020 (2020-08-09) 22 August 2020 (2020-08-22) 2 4
 United States Dustin Johnson (6) 23 August 2020 (2020-08-23) 19 June 2021 (2021-06-19) 43 134
 Spain Jon Rahm (3) 20 June 2021 (2021-06-20) 10 July 2021 (2021-07-10) 3 7
 United States Dustin Johnson (7) 11 July 2021 (2021-07-11) 17 July 2021 (2021-07-17) 1 135
 Spain Jon Rahm (4) 18 July 2021 (2021-07-18) 26 March 2022 (2022-03-26) 36 43
25  United States Scottie Scheffler 27 March 2022 (2022-03-27) 22 October 2022 (2022-10-22) 30 30 [20]
 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (9) 23 October 2022 (2022-10-23) 11 February 2023 (2023-02-11) 16 122
 United States Scottie Scheffler (2) 12 February 2023 (2023-02-12) 18 February 2023 (2023-02-18) 1 31
 Spain Jon Rahm (5) 19 February 2023 (2023-02-19) 11 March 2023 (2023-03-11) 3 46
 United States Scottie Scheffler (3) 12 March 2023 (2023-03-12) 8 April 2023 (2023-04-08) 4 35
 Spain Jon Rahm (6) 9 April 2023 (2023-04-09) 20 May 2023 (2023-05-20) 6 52
 United States Scottie Scheffler (4)* 21 May 2023 (2023-05-21) Present 156 191

Weeks at number one

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* Current number one player as of 10 May 2026
Rank Player Weeks Order Majors
1 United States Tiger Woods 683 9 15
2 Australia Greg Norman 331 3 2
3 United States Scottie Scheffler* 191 25 4
4 United States Dustin Johnson 135 20 2
5 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy 122[a] 16 6
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.

Consecutive weeks at No. 1

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No.1 Player Weeks
1 United States Tiger Woods 281
2 United States Tiger Woods (2) 264
3 United States Scottie Scheffler* 156
4 Australia Greg Norman 96
5 England Nick Faldo 81
6 United States Dustin Johnson 64
7 Australia Greg Norman (2) 62
8 United States Tiger Woods (3) 60
9 Australia Greg Norman (3) 54
Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy
11 Wales Ian Woosnam 50
12 Australia Greg Norman (4) 48
13 Australia Jason Day 47
14 Zimbabwe Nick Price 44
15 United States Dustin Johnson (2) 43
16 United States Tiger Woods (4) 41
17 England Luke Donald 40
18 United States Brooks Koepka 38
19 Spain Jon Rahm 36
20 Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (2) 32
* Current streak

Weeks at number one by country

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* Country with the current number one player as of 10 May 2026
Rank Country Weeks Order Majors Players Top player First player Latest player
1  United States* 1,118 6 34 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 6 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". 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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