In around three months time, just before the 2011 Masters Tournament tees off among the dogwood and azaleas at Augusta National, a significant milestone will be reached. The Official World Golf Ranking will be 25 years old.
And although the World Ranking may have confused some and irritated others in equal measure, it has become the yardstick by which all professional golfers are measured – and it’s here to stay.
As the Silver Anniversary approaches on April 6 next year, there has never been a better time to examine just how much the world of golf – and The European Tour in particular - has changed in the last quarter of a century.
Only 13 golfers to have reached the summit of the professional game, with England’s Lee Westwood being the most recent when he usurped Tiger Woods after 281 weeks at the top in October 2010, a year which, in the opinion of many observers, has been an annus mirabilis for The European Tour. It is a far cry from the dark days at the start of the new millennium when Westwood was the only Englishman in the top 100!
The Official World Golf Ranking was devised by Tony Greer, a master statistician working for the late Mark McCormack’s IMG company, and the very first bulletin revealed that Germany’s Bernhard Langer was the best player on the planet when the Ranking was launched in April 1986.
In that first week almost 25 years ago, there were three European players qualified for the Masters – defending champion Langer, two-time winner Seve Ballesteros and Sandy Lyle. How times have changed.
As 2011 approaches, there are currently 27 Europeans, and a total of 34 European Tour Members qualified to receive their precious invitations from the Masters Committee, although Ballesteros and Sir Nick Faldo have indicated they won’t be playing next year.
The statistics for the leading 100 players in the World Ranking make fascinating reading when compared with 25 years ago, when the United States ruled the roost with 60 players, the Rest of the World 25 and Europe 15.
As of January 1, 2011, European-born players will occupy 36 places in the top 100 with the United States and the rest of the world contributing 32 apiece.
The composition of the top ten sees a significant shift in power towards Europe. In 1986 it was the USA who boasted five players with three from Europe and two from the Rest of the World. Today, there are six Europeans – Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Paul Casey, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy – in the top ten with the USA represented by Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker.
Additionally, Europe provides ten of the top 20, 14 of the top 32 and 18 of the top 50. A quarter of a century ago, there were three Europeans in the top 20, seven in the top 32 and eight in the top 50.
In terms of the numerical breakdown for nations competing in the top 200 of world golf, the United States still holds the whip hand with 64 players (down from 107) while England is statisatically the second strongest nation with 19 players, ahead of Australia on 18 and Japan with 17.
In April, the Official World Golf Ranking will celebrate its 25th birthday with The European Tour in buoyant shape and live prospects of a first European-born Masters winner since José Maria Olazábal in 1999. The 2011 season should be one to savour.
For the record – and the stats anoraks – the 13 World Number Ones have been Langer, Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples, Nick Price, Tom Lehman, Woods, Ernie Els, David Duval, Vijay Singh and Westwood.
Will 2011 see a new name added to that list? The answer is – quite possibly!
Going into the New Year, any one of the top 12 on the Ranking – from Number One Westwood to 12th-ranked Ernie Els – could make it to the top spot by the time that the OWGR 25th birthday party gets under way in April.
However, Westwood’s Number One spot will be under threat long before the flowers bloom at Augusta. Before the middle of February, The Race to Dubai will have seen another six events including four as part of an augmented ‘Gulf Swing’ in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar and Dubai – all commanding substantial ranking points.
Westwood, defending champion Martin Kaymer (third) and Phil Mickelson (fourth) will all contest the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship where victory would assuredly elevate any of that trio to Number One.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy will both be seeking to be upwardly mobile in 2011 and they, too, resume in Abu Dhabi while deposed Number One Woods will bid to win a third Omega Dubai Desert Classic title.
Els, the most recent winner after his success in the 100th South African Open Championship last weekend, has the most to do to reclaim the Number One position he has held on three different occasions in the 1990s.
That he could reclaim that position on the strength of a couple of big victories and a first Masters Green Jacket, illustrates just how tightly packed the Ranking is in the upper echelons.
Of the remaining 11, only Woods (a total of 623 weeks at the top) and Westwood have experienced the heady feeling of looking down on all their peers.
Mickelson, currently fourth and a long-time second behind Woods, has never made it. Nor has fifth placed Jim Furyk. Should Woods, Mickelson, Furyk and seventh-placed Steve Stricker fail to perform in the early months of 2011, then the field will be wide open for a European surge.
US PGA Champion Kaymer is third going into January; US Open Champion McDowell is sixth. Both would relish the opportunity to become Number One to add to all the accolades which have come their way in 2010.
Eighth is Paul Casey, ninth is fellow Englishman Luke Donald with McIlroy occupying tenth position just one place ahead of the fourth Englishman in the top dozen, Ian Poulter.
One thing is for certain….it promises to be a thrilling contest over the next 12 months to decide the bragging rights next Christmas!
