The Loop

The history of the Official World Golf Ranking's No. 1 spot in 13 eye-popping numbers

February 21, 2017
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

With a five-shot win at the Genesis Open, Dustin Johnson joined a select group of male golfers who have ascended to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Here's the full list of players who have held the top spot since the OWGR's inception in 1986:

Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples, Nick Price, Tom Lehman, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson.

Most of the names are obvious, but some (Lee Westwood?) might surprise you. In any event, we dug deeper into this elite club and found 13 numbers that stood out.

20: The number of golfers who have held the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. OK, so this number isn't really eye-popping, but we figure we'd include it instead of you counting all those names listed above.

6: The number of Americans who have held the top spot, a surprisingly low total for a country that has dominated when it comes to depth of high-ranking players. Australia (Greg Norman, Jason Day, Adam Scott) and England (Nick Faldo, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood) are tied with the next most.

11: The number of stints Tiger Woods and Greg Norman each had in the top spot, tied for the most.

683: The number of weeks Tiger Woods has held the top spot. That comes out to more than 13 years.

598: The number of weeks all 18 golfers other than Woods and Greg Norman (331) have held the top spot combined.

281: The number of weeks in a row Woods held the top spot from June 12, 2005 to Oct. 30, 2010. Woods owns the second-longest streak also at 264 weeks. The third-longest stretch is Greg Norman's 96-week run from June 18, 1995 to April 19, 1997.

8: The number of full calendar years Woods spent in the top spot. Nick Faldo (1993) and Greg Norman (1996) are the only two other golfers to do it.

56: The number of weeks Luke Donald spent at No. 1. With zero major titles, that number is a bit surprising. Even more surprising, though, is that Donald has the sixth-highest total of weeks in the top spot.

54: The number of majors won by these 20 players. Of course, it helps when one guy wins 14.

12: The number of different players to hold the top spot from April 6, 1986 to October 30, 2010. There have already been eight different players get to No. 1 since.

2: The number of No. 1 players who haven't won a major in their career. Sorry, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald.

1: The number of weeks Tom Lehman held the top spot. Lehman's "reign" lasted from April 20-26 in 1997.

0: The number of weeks five-time major champ Phil Mickelson has held the top spot. Crazy.