Rory McIlroy has become, after winning the Honda Classic, the new world number one, replacing Englishman Luke Donald, being the fourth player, all of them European, to accede to the world throne in the last year and a half. The young talent from Holywood in Northern Ireland, about to turn 23, is the sixteenth player to hold the world number one, and the second youngest to achieve it after the American Tiger Woods, who did it at the age of 21 years and six months in 1997. The latter saw his reign in the ranking come to an end in October 2010 after eleven years as the world’s best, in favor of Englishman Lee Westwood. The Worksop player remained in first place until February 2011, when he was relieved by the German Martin Kaymer, after the latter finished second in the WGC-Accenture Match Play.
Precisely in that event, the Dusseldorf player was defeated by Donald, who by then appeared as another serious candidate to be crowned number one in the world, with a very consistent golf and results that were gradually making him rise in the ranking. Thus, the Englishman only had to wait until the end of May 2011 to ascend to the world throne with his victory in the BMW PGA Championship, although his reign has not even lasted a year, especially due to the strength of the young McIlroy. Unlike Westwood and Donald, the Northern Irishman already has a major to his name, as does the German Martin Kaymer, after winning the US Open last summer.
LANGER, THE FIRST NUMBER ONE
The world ranking was first published on April 6, 1986. Since then, a total of sixteen players have had the good fortune and honor of leading the ranking. The first was the German Berhnard Langer. His reign was, however, short-lived, as he only held the throne for three weeks. He was succeeded at the head of the world ranking by Severiano Ballesteros, who led it for twenty weeks in its first stage, before handing over to the Australian Greg Norman, the first world number one to remain at the top of the ranking for more than a year in a row. He stayed 61 weeks. Then there was a give and take between Seve and Norman, succeeding each other on the throne between 1987 and 1990, with a clear advantage for the Australian in number of weeks. In September 1990, a lanky Englishman named Nick Faldo climbed to the top of the world ranking. After nine weeks on the throne, he would be deposed by another Briton, the Welshman Ian Woosnam, who would be number one for almost a year without interruption, 50 weeks to be precise. His successor at the top of the ranking would be the American Fred Couples, who spent a total of 16 weeks as number one. Faldo would return to the top of the ranking in 1992 and would not leave it until 81 weeks later, when it would be regained by Greg Norman, for half a year in a row.
Zimbabwean Nick Price managed to climb to the top of the ranking in August 1994 and remained there until June 1995, 44 weeks. Then Norman returned, and did it with unusual strength, as he was about to reach the hundred consecutive weeks at the top of the ranking (he missed four). He was succeeded by the American Tom Lehman, the only one of the twelve world number ones who has only held that privilege for one week. The White Shark regained the throne and then, on January 11, 1998, not even two years after he had turned professional and after a season with four victories, two second places and two third places, the incomparable Tiger Woods reached the top of the ranking.
The Californian’s joy lasted only a week, as the South African Ernie Els snatched the position for another seven days, and Norman would snatch it from him for the same time. Tiger returned to the top of the rankings next and would hold the position this time for nine weeks, until Norman returned to the top, in what would be his twelfth and last time at the top of the world rankings. He held on for 18 weeks. Woods regained the lead and, after two four-week forays to the top by Els and two more by American David Duval, Tiger would begin the greatest feat ever recorded in the annals of the world rankings: 264 consecutive weeks (five years and one month) as number one, from August 15, 1999 to September 4, 2004.
In mid-August 2004 he surpassed the 331 weeks that Norman had managed to be at the top of the world ranking. The Fijian Vijay Singh ended Woods’ streak and was at the top of the ranking for 26 weeks and then alternated in the position with Tiger a couple of times until June 12, 2005, when the Californian began his second great streak at the top of the ranking, which has lasted until today and has exceeded 150 weeks. One of the great golfing news of 2010 was undoubtedly the dethronement of Tiger from the world leadership that he had been occupying uninterruptedly for five years (281 consecutive weeks) and to which he acceded for the first time on January 11, 1998. In total, he had accumulated 623 weeks at the top of the ranking and was only one week short of a total of 12 years at the top of the World Ranking.
Among his three possible successors at the end of the 2010 season, it was finally Westwood, second in two majors in 2010, who took the cat to water. The other two were the American Jim Furyk, winner of the multi-million dollar FedExCup, and the German Martin Kaymer, with victories in the US PGA Championship and in three other tournaments on the European Tour, where he won the Race to Dubai. Then came Kaymer’s reign, to be succeeded by Donald. Now it is McIlroy’s turn.
Leave a Reply