Since the creation of the Official World Golf Ranking (known as the Sony Ranking until 1997), and although the top spot has changed hands 43 times since Bernhard Langer first took the position on April 6, 1986, only 12 players in all have held the coveted position of being officially the world's number one golfer.
Tiger Woods holds the record for the most consecutive weeks at number one (264), as well as the most total weeks in the position (563). The twelve holders, and the total number of weeks at number one, are as follows, as at August 30, 2009:
- Bernhard Langer - 3 weeks
- Severiano Ballesteros - 61 weeks
- Greg Norman - 331 weeks
- Nick Faldo - 97 weeks
- Ian Woosnam - 50 weeks
- Fred Couples - 16 weeks
- Nick Price - 44 weeks
- Tom Lehman - 1 week
- Ernie Els - 9 weeks
- David Duval - 15 weeks
- Vijay Singh - 32 weeks
- Tiger Woods - 563 weeks
For the full chronological history of the holders of the world number one spot, click here.
As the top spot has alternated between players over the years, Greg Norman has reached number one 11 separate times, Tiger Woods 10 times. Seve Ballesteros 5 , Nick Faldo 4, with Ernie Els and Vijay Singh 3 times each.
Although several number ones - including Tiger Woods - have held the position for just one week before being displaced, only Tom Lehman among the twelve has been world number one for a single week in his career, in 1997.
Tiger Woods was 21 years, 5 months and 2 weeks old when he first became world number one on June 15, 1997.
Vijay Singh was 41 years, 6 months and 2 weeks old when he first became world number one on September 5, 2004, and 42 years, 3 months and 3 weeks old when he last held the position on June 11, 2005.
Of the twelve number ones, only four have been Americans, the position also having been held by a German, a Spaniard, an Australian, an Englishman, a Welshman, a Zimbabwean, a South African and a Fijian.
Only three players have held the position for at least 52 successive weeks: Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. The same three players are also the only ones to been world number one for a full calendar year: Nick Faldo throughout 1993, Greg Norman throughout 1996, and Tiger Woods throughout 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
In 2008, Tiger Woods achieved the remarkable feat of holding onto the number one position all year, despite not competing for more than six months after his June 16 playoff victory for the US Open against Rocco Mediate, as he underwent knee surgery and recuperation. He was still world number one on February 25, 2009, when he resumed tournament golf at the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Tiger Woods also holds the record for the highest ever average points total, when he reached 32.44 points (1459.64 points accumulated over 45 tournaments) on June 3, 2001, shortly before the 2001 US Open, at which point he was the first player ever to hold all four professional major championships simultaneously - the so-called 'Tiger Slam'.
Just before that, on May 20, 2001, Tiger Woods had also built the biggest ever lead in the rankings, when his 32.33 average points was 19.40 ahead of the then world number two Phil Mickelson on 12.93 average points.
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