Golf will feature at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, as it did in both 2020 and 2016 (and also at the start of the 20th century). However, unlike in athletics, Olympic gold is not the pinnacle of the sport, with the four majors the events that all pros really want to win. But one of the other massive aims for any top golfer is to make it to the top of the world rankings.
The Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) system was only introduced in 1986 and so legends such as Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have never officially been the number one player in the world, even if they have been the clear, obvious, de facto top dog. The first OWGR number one was Bernhard Langer, who was top of the pile for three weeks from the 6th of April, 1986 until the legendary Seve Ballesteros surpassed him.
Langer is one of two Germans to have made it to number one, the other being Martin Kaymer, whilst Jon Rahm is the only other Spaniard to have done so. But have any UK golfers been the OWGR No. 1? Let’s take a look.
Six UK Golfers Have Been World Number One
In total six different golfers from the United Kingdom have topped the official rankings. At the time of writing, they have been number one for almost seven years, collectively. That tally includes four English players, one from Wales and one – no prizes for guessing who – from Northern Ireland.
Nick Faldo – 97 Weeks at Number 1
Now Sir Nick, Faldo was the first UK golfer to hit number one, doing so in September 1990. He was the fourth player to reach top spot and throughout his career he enjoyed almost two years where he could make a very good claim of being the best golfer on the whole planet. Since the inception of the ranking system, of the players to be world number one, only Tiger Woods has won more majors than Faldo’s six.
The Englishman was a formidable competitor and the combination of his brilliant mentality and his reliable swing made him excel when the pressure was really on. Faldo had four spells at number one, the last of those by far the longest, running for 81 consecutive weeks between March 1992 and April 1994.
Ian Woosnam – 50 Weeks at Number 1
Woosnam, in common with most of the players on this list including Faldo, has captained the European Ryder Cup team and he is the only Welsh player to have ascended to the pinnacle of the sport. Woosie had just a single spell at number one but it was a lengthy one, running between April 1991 and March 1992 at what was a strong time for European golf.
Woosnam, who was born in Oswestry, won the US Masters in 1991, the only major of his career, though he enjoyed three top-10 major finishes in the years either side of that as well. In all he had 52 pro career wins and is Wales’ greatest ever golfer.
Lee Westwood – 22 Weeks at Number 1
Westwood is still active but even had he not moved to LIV, his chances of making world number one again would almost certainly have passed. He will have to be content with the 22 weeks he spent at the top, which was split between two spells in 2010 and 2011.
Westy was a Ryder Cup legend but is among the best golfers to have played the game and failed to win a major. He will turn 51 shortly after the 2024 US Masters, so is unlikely to right that wrong but nobody can take anything away from his achievements in becoming OWGR number one.
Luke Donald – 56 Weeks at Number 1
Donald captained Europe superbly to a storming Ryder Cup win in 2023 and will hope to further cement his place as one of the greatest Ryder Cup captains and players of all time by retaining the cup in 2025. Like Westwood he never won a major and given the nature of the modern game he is unlikely to, though he remains active.
That Donald made it to world number one despite being one of the shorter hitters on tour was largely down to his sensational putting and short game, as well as his accuracy. From the end of May 2011 he spent 40 weeks at the top. Over the next six months he and the next player on our list swapped top spot seven times, meaning that in all Donald enjoyed four separate spells on top of the world.
Rory McIlroy – 122 Weeks at Number 1 (as of 10/4/24)
Rory single-handedly makes Northern Ireland the fourth most successful country in terms of weeks spent at number one! That is some achievement, and the brilliant four-time major champion first made it to the top of the OWGR pile in March 2012, taking over from Donald’s first time there.
Between 2011 and 2014 Rory collected four majors and almost completed the career Grand Slam when finishing fourth at the Masters in 2015. Since then it just hasn’t quite happened for him in the majors, but he keeps going close and we remain hopeful he can add to his collection. Either way, with well over two years at world number one, he holds the distinction of being the European golfer to have spent longest at the top of the tree. And we certainly do not think he is done yet.
Justin Rose – 13 Weeks at Number 1
Rose is one of the few men who can say he is the Olympic champion of golf and he also boasts one major – for now – in the shape of the 2013 US Open. He has finished in the top three in the other majors too and in all has been world number one on five separate occasions, all occurring between September 2018 and April 2019.
Rose will only turn 44 after the 2024 Open Championship, so could yet add to his tally of weeks at number one and of majors. He is currently just outside the top 50 so that may seem unlikely but we would not right off the South Africa-born, two-time WGC champion just yet.