Banking on the Rankings

Enter Tiger Woods.

Others came and went. Ernie Els, David Duval, Vijay Singh, who was the last man to top the rankings in March 2005 before Woods went on a quite extraordinary run of winning golf, staying at #1 until Lee Westwood briefly inherited the crown for an unbroken run of 281 successive weeks at the summit.

Still more heirs apparent, from German wunderkind Martin Kaymer, who managed eight weeks on top. Luke Donald (56), Rory McIlroy, 95 weeks across seven spells at #1, a disappointing return for a young man expected to sweep all before him. Adam Scott was making a fleeting appearance at the top in 2014, on the back of his 2013 Masters victory.

Since then, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day performed a lightweight version of the ‘Seve and the Shark show’. The American holding top spot four times to the Australian’s three, before Dustin Johnson, his enfant terrible days seemingly behind him becoming Numero Uno in February last year, a position he is yet to relinquish.

And, whilst those who reached the summit but were unable to set-up camp there could rightly claim to have been, on a given week in a particular year to have been the best player on the planet. Others, most notably Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson - alongside García, surely the best players never to have been OWGR #1 - Henrik Stenson and Harrington have, like Mickelson and García, made their mark by way of longevity.