how does world golf ranking work

How Do the World Golf Rankings Work?

• Universal Acceptance. Golf’s major governing bodies, such as the United States Golf Association and the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, as well as hosts of the world’s four major championships, ...
• Formula. Golfers receive points based on their performance and the quality of their competition. ...
• Major Points. ...
• Qualifying. ...

Full Answer

How is a golfer's world ranking determined?

Aug 17, 2021 · The world rating relates to the number of top-200 world ranked players are competing in the event, who are all given different points depending on their ranking - the World No. 1 is allocated 45 points, the No. 2 is allocated 37, the No. 3 is allocated 32, down to those ranked between 101 and 200 who are allocated a rating value of 1 each.

What is the highest world rating in golf?

Mar 18, 2020 · The Official World Golf Ranking formula is based on a rolling 104-week (two-year) period, with players earning points toward their ranking based on their finish in each sanctioned tournament played.

What are the benefits of being the world's No 1 golfer?

How Do the World Golf Rankings Work?. The Official World Golf Ranking involves a mathematical formula that rates the world’s top professional golfers. Achieving a high enough ranking assures...

Who is the top-ranked golfer in the world in 2011?

HOW THE RANKING SYSTEM WORKS. Official Tournaments from the leading professional Eligible Golf Tours from around the world as well as Major Championships, World Golf Championships, Olympic Golf Competition and the World Cup of Golf are eligible for World Ranking Points (excluding team events). Any player competing in any of these tournaments will receive World …

Which golf clubs accept the World Golf Rankings?

Golf’s major governing bodies, such as the United States Golf Association and the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, as well as hosts of the world’s four major championships, including the Royal & Ancient Club and Augusta National Golf Club accept the World Golf Rankings.

What does it mean to score well in golf?

Scoring well in the rankings is a golfer’s ticket to the world’s most prestigious tournaments. For example, the Masters accepts the top 50 players from the previous year’s rankings, plus the top 50 from the most recent rankings prior to the Masters.

How long do golf points stay on a player's tally?

Points remain on a player’s tally for two years (up to a maximum of 52 events played during that time), but they’re reduced on a sliding scale after 13 weeks, so recent performances carry greater weight.

What is the official ranking of golf?

The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling" two-year period. New rankings are produced each week.

Who created the World Golf Ranking?

The initiative for the creation of the Official World Golf Ranking came from the Championship Committee of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which found in the 1980s that its system of issuing invitations to The Open Championship on a tour by tour basis was omitting an increasing number of top players because more of them were dividing their time between tours, and from preeminent sports agent Mark McCormack, who was the first chairman of the International Advisory Committee which oversees the rankings. The system used to calculate the rankings was developed from McCormack's World Golf Rankings, which were published in his World of Professional Golf Annual from 1968 to 1985, although these were purely unofficial and not used for any wider purpose (such as inviting players to major tournaments).

How to get a golfer's world ranking?

Simply put, a golfer's World Ranking is obtained by dividing their points total by the number of events they have played, which gives their average. Players are then ranked according to their average, highest first.

What is the first stage of golf ranking?

The first stage in the calculation is the ranking of each event. For most events the ranking depends on the current world rankings of the participating golfers and the participation of the leading golfers from the "home tour".

Who was the first golfer to be ranked 1?

The first official ranking list was published prior to the Masters in April 1986, with Bernhard Langer the first world No. 1 ranked player, ahead of Seve Ballesteros, who had topped the unofficial McCormack's World Golf Rankings at the end of the previous year. Ballesteros briefly held the No. 1 spot after Langer, before Greg Norman 's worldwide success over the rest of that season made him the first year-end No. 1. Ballesteros took the No. 1 position back from Norman in 1987, and the pair exchanged the No. 1 position several times over the next two years. During 1990, Nick Faldo remained ranked just behind Norman despite winning three majors in two years (and more world ranking points in total than his rival, albeit having entered more events). As detailed in Mark McCormack's "World of Professional Golf 1991" annual, it was also the case (but less immediately apparent) that Norman had won a total of 14 events during the ranking period to Faldo's 10, and when the two had competed in the same tournament, had finished ahead of his rival 19 times to 11, so Norman's No. 1 position (on the new "average points" system) had some justification. Faldo did inherit the No. 1 ranking for the first time early in 1991.

Participation

The rankings are based on performance in the official events held by the most significant professional golf tours around the world. The PGA Tour, the European Tour, the Japan Golf Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Sunshine Tour and the Asian Tour participate in the rankings.

Origin

The official rankings began to be published in 1986. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews devised the system as a more equitable way to select players to be invited to the British Open.

Points System

Players are awarded points based on the position they finish in the tournament. In the four major championships--the U.S.

Calculations

The rankings are based on performance over a two-year period. The ranking shows a player’s average points per tournament, his total points earned divided by the number of tournaments he has competed in.

An Elite Club

Between 1986 and August 2010, only 12 players held the world No. 1 ranking. Tiger Woods has earned the title for more than 600 weeks--by far the most.

Ranking Points

Amateur golfers achieve ranking points by placing highly in certain tournaments and matches. The higher you place in a tournament, the more points you will be awarded. Points are awarded based upon the strength of the field against which you are playing (also known as the Power of the event) and the size of the field of players.

Counting Events

The only way to earn points is by earning them at WAGR-certified events. A tournament or match of golf that is certified is known as a "counting event," because it can count towards your WAGR points total.

Changing hands six times in seven weeks

When the idea of this article was first discussed back in mid-August, Jordan Spieth was on the verge of taking over from Rory McIlroy at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). The young Texan achieved that by finishing runner-up to Jason Day at the US PGA Championship, while McIlroy finished down the field in 17th place.

McIlroy becomes world number one – without hitting a shot

Spieth’s initial reign was short-lived, lasting just two weeks before a missed cut at The Barclays enabled McIlroy to regain the lead without even playing in the tournament. The pair continued to exchange the top spot in unusual circumstances for the next three weeks. Then Jason Day joined the party.

Jason Day is the world's best golfer – but only for one week

While McIlroy and Spieth were swapping turns at the top of the ranking without actually setting the world on fire with their golf, the Australian was tearing it up. Three victories in a five-week period from mid-August to the third week in September saw him reach number one for the first time.

How are golf's world rankings calculated?

The answer is, as you would probably imagine, rather complicated. In layman’s terms, however, the OWGR is calculated on a two-year rolling system, which awards and deducts points from a player’s tally each week.

Who came up with the world rankings system?

The OWGR is the brainchild of Mark McCormack, the founder of IGM, and was introduced at the 1986 Masters at Augusta. Bernhard Langer was the inaugural World No.1 but he was quickly deposed at the top by Seve Ballesteros, and the German never regained his supremacy.

The world ranking is calculated over two years – not one week

During the past 30 years, the system has had several refinements in how the points are calculated, as Ian Barker of the OWGR explains. “It’s essentially an average of events played across the last two years, with the values of the points weighted,” he says.

Is there a better system?

Given the way the system has been streamlined since 1986, Barker doesn’t expect many more dramatic changes and believes that the current format is the best available to rank the top players.

Overview

Tours included in the rankings

The ranking system is endorsed by the four major championships and six major professional tours, five of which are charter members of the International Federation of PGA Tours:
• PGA Tour
• European Tour
• Asian Tour (from 2000; not a charter member of the Federation)

History

Calculation of the rankings

Importance of the rankings

Timeline of the "number one" ranking

Rankings archive

See also