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List of world number one male golfers

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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 April 6, 1986. As of February 1, 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.

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 February 1, 2026

#	Country	Player	End date	Number
of weeks	Cumulative
total weeks	Ref.
					****
		(2)
		(2)
		(3)
		(3)
		(4)
		(4)
		(5)			****
		(5)
		(6)
		(2)
					****
		(3)
		(2)			****
		(4)			****
		(7)
					****
		(8)
					****
		(9)
		(10)
		(2)
		(11)			****
		(3)
		(2)
		(4)
		(3)			****
		(5)
		(6)
		(2)			****
		(7)
		(8)
		(2)
		(9)
		(3)			****
		(10)		(record)
					****
		(2)			****
		(2)
		(2)
		(3)
		(3)
		(4)			****
		(4)
		(11)			**** (record)
					****
		(5)
		(6)
		(2)
		(7)
		(3)
		(2)
		(4)			****
		(3)			****
		(2)
		(3)
		(2)
		(2)
		(3)
		(3)
		(4)
		(4)
		(5)			****
		(5)
		(4)			****
		(8)
		(2)			****
		(2)
		(6)
		(3)
		(7)			****
		(4)
		(9)			****
		(2)
		(5)
		(3)
		(6)			****
		(4)*	Present		****

Weeks at number one

*	Current number one player as of February 1, 2026

Player	Weeks	Order	Majors
USA	683	9	15
AUS	331	3	2
USA *	177	25	4
USA	135	20	2
NIR	122	16	5
ENG	97	4	6
ESP	61	2	5
ENG	56	15	0
ESP	52	24	2
AUS	51	19	1
WAL	50	5	1
USA	47	23	5
ZIM	44	7	3
FIJ	32	12	3
USA	26	18	3
ENG	22	13	0
USA	16	6	1
USA	15	11	1
ENG	13	22	1
AUS	11	17	1
ZAF	9	10	4
GER	8	14	2
USA	5	21	2
FRG	3	1	2
USA	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 February 1, 2026

Country	Weeks	Order	Majors	Players
*	1,104	6	34	9
	393	3	4	3
	188	4	7	4
	122	10	5	1
	113	2	7	2
	50	5	1	1
	44	7	3	1
	32	9	3	1
(including West Germany)	11	1	4	2
	9	8	4	1

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

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.

Notes

References

;General

;Specific

References

"Week ending April 6th 1986". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending November 22nd 1987". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending November 29th 1987". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending October 30th 1988". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending November 6th 1988". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending November 13th 1988". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending March 26th 1989". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending April 2nd 1989". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending August 20th 1989". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending September 2nd 1990". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
"Week ending October 14th 1990". [[Official World Golf Ranking]].
(2010-10-31). "Lee Westwood is world golf No. 1". [[ESPN]].
(2010-10-31). "Lee Westwood becomes world number one as Kaymer falters". [[BBC Sport]].
Donegan, Lawrence. (2012-03-05). "Rory McIlroy climbs to world No1 after Honda Classic win". [[The Guardian]].
"Luke Donald back to World Number One after play-off victory at the Transitions Championship".
(2012-04-16). "Luke Donald loses world No 1 ranking to Rory McIlroy". The Daily Telegraph.
(2012-04-30). "Luke Donald finishes third in New Orleans to regain No1 spot". The Guardian.
"McIlroy snatches world No. 1 ranking from Donald". [[ESPN]].
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.
(2022-03-27). "Dallas resident, Texas alum Scottie Scheffler claims world No. 1 golf ranking, wins Dell Match Play".

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