Rory McIlroy has returned to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking for an eighth spell as World Number One.
McIlroy and Brooks Koepka did not play last week, allowing McIlroy to leapfrog the American into top spot due to the two year rolling ranking system.
This is McIlroy’s 96th week in total as World Number One, just one behind Sir Nick Faldo, who is third on the all time list for weeks spent at the top behind Tiger Woods and Greg Norman.
The four time Major Champion hit the summit for the first time in March 2012 during a run of almost two and a half years where the position was held by a European Tour Member.
He became Koepka's nearest rival when he claimed the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup on the US PGA Tour in August, and his victory in November at the WGC-HSBC Champions was his fourth worldwide in 2019 and first on the European Tour for three years.
| Weeks spent as World Number One | |
|---|---|
| Tiger Woods | 683 |
| Greg Norman | 331 |
| Sir Nick Faldo | 97 |
| Rory McIlroy | 96 |
McIlroy's return to the top further cements his place among the modern game's most dominant figures at the age of just 30, having spent the past decade inside the top 20.
