List of world number one in men's golf

Tiger Woods is the No. 1 record holder for most weeks.

The list of world number one in men's golf lists all the leaders of the Official World Golf Rankings since its introduction on April 7, 1986.

The site first lists all leaders in the ranking in chronological order. In further tables the world number one at the end of the year and the individual players who occupied the number 1 position are shown, sorted by their number of weeks at the top of the ranking list.

Since the rating was introduced, a total of 24 players have topped the golf world rankings. The first world leader was the German Bernhard Langer , the current leader is the American Dustin Johnson . American Tiger Woods holds the records for most of the seasons that ended in number 1 (12) and for most weeks at the top of the world rankings, both absolute (683) and consecutive (281) .

The youngest leader in the ranking was also Tiger Woods (21 years old, June 16, 1997), the oldest Greg Norman (42 years old, January 11, 1998).

World number one in the course of the year

Player : Indicates the name of the player. The number in brackets behind the player name indicates how many athletes were at the top of the world ranking.
From : Indicates the day that the player reached the No. 1 position.
to : Indicates the day on which the player was last leader of the world rankings within the respective series.
Weeks : Indicates the number of weeks that the player topped the world rankings within the respective series.

player	from	to	Weeks
Bernhard Langer (1)	April 7, 1986	April 27, 1986	003
Severiano Ballesteros (2)	April 28, 1986	September 14, 1986	020th
Greg Norman (3)	September 15, 1986	November 22, 1987	062
Severiano Ballesteros	November 23, 1987	November 29, 1987	001
Greg Norman	November 30, 1987	October 30, 1988	048
Severiano Ballesteros	October 31, 1988	November 6, 1988	001
Greg Norman	November 7, 1988	November 13, 1988	001
Severiano Ballesteros	November 14, 1988	March 26, 1989	019th
Greg Norman	March 27, 1989	April 2, 1989	001
Severiano Ballesteros	April 3, 1989	August 20, 1989	020th
Greg Norman	August 21, 1989	2nd September 1990	054
Nick Faldo (4)	3rd September 1990	October 14, 1990	006th
Greg Norman	October 15, 1990	3rd February 1991	016
Nick Faldo	04th February 1991	April 7, 1991	009
Ian Woosnam (5)	April 8, 1991	March 22, 1992	050
Fred Couples (6)	March 23, 1992	March 29, 1992	001
Nick Faldo	March 30, 1992	April 5, 1992	001
Fred Couples	April 6, 1992	July 19, 1992	015th
Nick Faldo	July 20, 1992	February 6, 1994	081
Greg Norman	February 7, 1994	August 14, 1994	027
Nick Price (7)	August 15, 1994	June 18, 1995	044
Greg Norman	June 19, 1995	April 20, 1997	096
Tom Lehman (8)	April 21, 1997	April 27, 1997	001
Greg Norman	April 28, 1997	June 15, 1997	007th
Tiger Woods (9)	June 16, 1997	June 22, 1997	001
Ernie Els (10)	June 23, 1997	June 29, 1997	001
Greg Norman	June 30, 1997	July 6, 1997	001
Tiger Woods	July 7, 1997	September 7, 1997	009
Greg Norman	September 8, 1997	January 11, 1998	018th
Tiger Woods	January 12, 1998	April 12, 1998	013
Ernie Els	April 13, 1998	May 10, 1998	004th
Tiger Woods	May 11, 1998	May 17, 1998	001
Ernie Els	May 18, 1998	June 14, 1998	004th
Tiger Woods	June 15, 1998	March 28, 1999	041
David Duval (11)	March 29, 1999	4th July 1999	014th
Tiger Woods	July 5, 1999	August 8, 1999	005
David Duval	0August 9, 1999	August 15, 1999	001
Tiger Woods	August 16, 1999	September 5, 2004	264
Vijay Singh (12)	0September 6, 2004	March 6, 2005	026th
Tiger Woods	March 7, 2005	March 20, 2005	002
Vijay Singh	March 21, 2005	April 10, 2005	003
Tiger Woods	April 11, 2005	May 22, 2005	006th
Vijay Singh	May 23, 2005	June 12, 2005	003
Tiger Woods	June 13, 2005	October 31, 2010	281
Lee Westwood (13)	November 1, 2010	February 27, 2011	017th
Martin Kaymer (14)	February 28, 2011	April 24, 2011	008th
Lee Westwood	April 25, 2011	May 29, 2011	005
Luke Donald (15)	May 30, 2011	March 4, 2012	040
Rory McIlroy (16)	March 5, 2012	March 18, 2012	002
Luke Donald	March 19, 2012	April 15, 2012	004th
Rory McIlroy	April 16, 2012	April 29, 2012	002
Luke Donald	April 30, 2012	May 6, 2012	001
Rory McIlroy	May 7, 2012	May 27, 2012	003
Luke Donald	May 28, 2012	August 12, 2012	011
Rory McIlroy	August 13, 2012	March 24, 2013	032
Tiger Woods	March 25.2013	May 18, 2014	060
Adam Scott (17)	19th May 2014	3rd August 2014	011
Rory McIlroy	04th August 2014	August 16, 2015	054
Jordan Spieth (18)	17th August 2015	August 30, 2015	002
Rory McIlroy	August 31, 2015	September 6, 2015	001
Jordan Spieth	September 7, 2015	13th September 2015	001
Rory McIlroy	September 14, 2015	20th September 2015	001
Jason Day (19)	September 21, 2015	September 27, 2015	001
Jordan Spieth	September 28, 2015	October 18, 2015	003
Jason Day	19th October 2015	November 8, 2015	003
Jordan Spieth	November 9, 2015	March 27, 2016	020th
Jason Day	March 28, 2016	19th February 2017	046
Dustin Johnson (20)	20th February 2017	May 13, 2018	064
Justin Thomas (21)	May 14, 2018	June 10, 2018	004th
Dustin Johnson	June 11, 2018	September 9, 2018	013
Justin Rose (22)	September 10, 2018	23rd September 2018	002
Dustin Johnson	September 24, 2018	October 21, 2018	004th
Brooks Koepka (23)	October 22, 2018	4th November 2018	002
Justin Rose	5th November 2018	November 11, 2018	001
Brooks Koepka	November 12, 2018	18th November 2018	001
Justin Rose	19th November 2018	November 25, 2018	001
Brooks Koepka	November 26, 2018	January 6, 2019	006th
Justin Rose	January 7, 2019	3rd March 2019	008th
Dustin Johnson	4th March 2019	April 7, 2019	005
Justin Rose	April 8, 2019	April 14, 2019	001
Dustin Johnson	April 15, 2019	19th May 2019	005
Brooks Koepka	20th May 2019	February 9, 2020	038
Rory McIlroy	February 10, 2020	19th July 2020	011
Jon Rahm (24)	20th July 2020	2nd August 2020	002
Justin Thomas	August 3, 2020	August 9, 2020	001
Jon Rahm	August 10, 2020	23 August 2020	002
Dustin Johnson	August 24, 2020	current	002

As of August 31, 2020

World number one at the end of the year

Note: The number in brackets behind the player name indicates the number of times the player was able to finish a season at the top of the world rankings at any given time.

year	player	year	player	year	player
1986	Greg Norman	2001	Tiger Woods (4)	2016	Jason Day
1987	Greg Norman (2)	2002	Tiger Woods (5)	2017	Dustin Johnson
1988	Severiano Ballesteros	2003	Tiger Woods (6)	2018	Brooks Koepka
1989	Greg Norman (3)	2004	Vijay Singh	2019	Brooks Koepka (2)
1990	Greg Norman (4)	2005	Tiger Woods (7)
1991	Ian Woosnam	2006	Tiger Woods (8)
1992	Nick Faldo	2007	Tiger Woods (9)
1993	Nick Faldo (2)	2008	Tiger Woods (10)
1994	Nick Price	2009	Tiger Woods (11)
1995	Greg Norman (5)	2010	Lee Westwood
1996	Greg Norman (6)	2011	Luke Donald
1997	Greg Norman (7)	2012	Rory McIlroy
1998	Tiger Woods	2013	Tiger Woods (12)
1999	Tiger Woods (2)	2014	Rory McIlroy (2)
2000	Tiger Woods (3)	2015	Jordan Spieth

Player at the top of the world rankings after weeks

Player : Indicates the name of the player. The current leader is highlighted in bold.
First time on : Indicates the date on which the player was at the top of the world rankings for the first time.
Weeks : Indicates the total number of weeks that the player was at the top of the world rankings. The position in the table is also based on this value.
Streak : The number of consecutive weeks the player has been at the top of the world rankings during their longest streak.

	player	first on	Weeks	series
1.	Tiger Woods	June 16, 1997	683	281
2.	Greg Norman	September 15, 1986	331	096
3.	Rory McIlroy	March 5, 2012	106	054
4th	Nick Faldo	3rd September 1990	097	081
5.	Dustin Johnson	20th February 2017	093	064
6th	Severiano Ballesteros	April 28, 1986	061	020th
7th	Luke Donald	May 30, 2011	056	040
8th.	Jason Day	September 21, 2015	051	046
9.	Ian Woosnam	April 8, 1991	050	050
10.	Brooks Koepka	October 22, 2018	047	038
11.	Nick Price	August 15, 1994	044	044
12.	Vijay Singh	0September 6, 2004	032	026th
13.	Jordan Spieth	17th August 2015	026th	020th
14th	Lee Westwood	0November 1, 2010	022nd	017th
15th	Fred Couples	March 23, 1992	016	015th
16.	David Duval	March 29, 1999	015th	014th
17th	Justin Rose	September 10, 2018	013	08th
18th	Adam Scott	19th May 2014	011	011
19th	Ernie Els	June 23, 1997	09	04th
20th	Martin Kaymer	February 28, 2011	08th	08th
21st	Justin Thomas	May 14, 2018	05	04th
22nd	Jon Rahm	20th July 2020	04th	02
23.	Bernhard Langer	April 7, 1986	03	03
24.	Tom Lehman	April 21, 1997	01	01

As of August 31, 2020

Web links

• Official website of the World Golf Rankings (Engl.)