The World No. 1 ranking changed ownership nine times this year, the most in the history of the Official World Golf Rankings inception since 1986, when Bernhard Langer became the first World No.1 golfer.
The most change happened previously in 2016 when the top rank saw a total of eight changes.
Little would one have expected this when Justin Thomas replaced compatriot Dustin Johnson atop the ranking back in May. Johnson had just finished his 64th week as the best golfer in the world.
Tiger Woods
All this is a far cry from the times when a certain Tiger Woods called the shots. At the peak of his career, ‘El Tigre’ was the paradigm of dominance. In his seventh stint as No. 1, Woods made the top spot his own for 264 weeks (from August 15, 1999, to September 4, 2004). About ten months later, his tenth stint lasted a record 281 weeks (from June 12, 2005, to October 30, 2010). In all, Woods was the top-ranked golfer for a whopping 683 weeks across 11 separate spells.
Read more in our December edition.