World Golf Rankings: Men, Women, Pro, Amateur, Junior
We also include links to other rating systems within each category, plus to information about how the major rankings systems work and what their criteria are.
Pro Men: Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR)
The official title of the rankings for the world's professional male golfers is Official World Golf Ranking (singular, not plural), which also goes by the acronym OWGR. The OWGR has been around since 1986, when they were officially known as the Sony Rankings. Prior to that time, there was no official, world ranking system for pro men's golf.The Official World Golf Ranking was founded by the USGA, the R&A, the PGA of America, the PGA Tour, the European Tour, Augusta National Golf Club and the International Federation of PGA Tours. Golfers earn points for playing events on the PGA Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Asian Tour, Australasian Tour, Sunshine Tour, and many others. There are currently more than 20 pro tours around the world that are part of the OWGR.
For the current world rankings, visit the OWGR website. See this page for an explanation of how the ranking system works.
Who finished each year at No. 1 in the world golf rankings? We'll do better than that. Here are the year-end Top 50 in the rankings for each year: 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021 - 2022 - 2023
Who was ranked No. 1 in the first world golf rankings? These were the Top 10 players in the first OWGR rankings released on April 7, 1986:
1. Bernhard Langer
2. Seve Ballesteros
3. Sandy Lyle
4. Tom Watson
5. Mark O'Meara
6. Greg Norman
7. Tommy Nakajima
8. Hal Sutton
9. Corey Pavin
10. Calvin Peete
Other rankings of men's professional golfers include the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings.
Pro Women: Rolex Rankings
The world rankings for women's professional golf are known as the Women's World Golf Rankings or Rolex Rankings, after title sponsor Rolex. The Rolex Rankings have been around since 2006. Prior to that, there was no official ranking system (recognized by the world's major women's pro tours) in women's professional golf.The organizations that officially partner with the Rolex Rankings include the LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour, Korean LPGA and LPGA of Japan, and, as of this writing, there are 10 women's pro tours around the world whose tournaments are counting events in the ranking system. The USGA and R&A are also partners of the Rolex Rankings.
For the current world rankings, visit rolexrankings.com. See this page for an explanation for how the Women's World Golf Rankings work plus other FAQs.
Who finished each year at No. 1 in the women's world golf rankings? These are the Top 50 in the year-end rankings for each year: 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021 - 2022 - 2023
Who was ranked No. 1 in the first Rolex Rankings? The first women's world rankings were released on Feb. 21, 2006. These were the Top 10 golfers in those rankings:
1. Annika Sorenstam
2. Paula Creamer
3. Michelle Wie
4. Yuri Fudoh
5. Cristie Kerr
6. Ai Miyazato
7. Lorena Ochoa
8. Jeong Jang
9. Hee-Won Han
10. Juli Inkster
Other rankings of women's professional golfers include the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings.
Amateurs: World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR)
The World Amateur Golf Rankings, or WAGR, were introduced by the R&A in January 2007. Originally, the WAGR included only rankings for male amateurs around the world. Women's rankings were added in 2011, which was the same year the USGA endorsed and became a cosponsor of the rankings.The first-ever No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings was Richie Ramsay of Scotland. The first No. 1 when the women's rankings were added in 2011 was Mitsuki Katahira of Japan. For information on how the WAGR are determined, see this page.
To view the rankings, see:
Other notable rankings of amateur golfers include the Golfweek/Sagarin men's NCAA rankings and Golfweek/Sagarin women's NCAA rankings.
