Connect with us

19th Hole

Official World Golf Ranking: What is the history and how does the system work? (GolfWRX Explains)

Published

on

How is the Official World Golf Ranking system calculated? It’s a question we at GolfWRX get more often than you’d think. So, we’ve put together this guide to better understand the history, the formula, and the importance of the OWGR system.

The OWGR is crucial in professional golf as it is used as one of the qualifying criteria for entry into several leading tournaments.

Here is a rundown of the Official World Golf Ranking system with all the information you need to know.

When did the Official World Golf Ranking begin?

The first official ranking system called the ‘Sony Ranking’ began at the 1986 Masters.

How does the current Official World Golf Ranking work?

Each player earns World Ranking Points over a two year rolling period with the points awarded for each tournament maintained for a 13-week period to place greater weight on recent performances.

Points are distributed from each event based on the strength of the field. Players within the top 200 in the world receive a ‘world rating value’ which counts toward the field’s rating.

The world No. 1 is allocated 45, the No. 2 is allocated 37, the No. 3 is allocated 32, down to those ranked between 101 and 200 who are assigned a rating value of 1 each.

Each player is then ranked according to his average points per tournament, which is calculated by dividing his total number of points by the tournaments he has played over that two-year period.

The formula is based on a minimum of 40 tournaments that the player has competed in over the two year ranking period and a maximum divisor of a player’s last 52 events.

How are the points awarded at the biggest events?

The winner of each of the four major championships receives 100 points. A runner-up finish earns 60 while a third-place spot gives a player 40 points.

The winner of the PGA Tour’s flagship event – The Players – receives 80 points while the victor at the European Tour’s flagship event – the BMW Championship – receives 64.

A regular tour event win on either the PGA Tour or Euro Tour earns players 24 points.

Why is cracking the top 50 especially important?

The top 50 players in the world are all eligible to compete in The Open, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Players. The world’s top 50 players also receive an invite to the Masters and all of the World Golf Championships.

When are the OWGR standings updated?

Every Monday.

Who has the most weeks as Number One in history?

  • Tiger Woods – 683 weeks
  • Greg Norman – 331 weeks
  • Rory McIlroy – 105 weeks
  • Nick Faldo – 97 weeks
  • Dustin Johnson – 91 weeks

Which Tours are included in the OWGR system?

  • PGA Tour
  • European Tour
  • Asian Tour 
  • PGA Tour of Australasia
  • Japan Golf Tour
  • Sunshine Tour
  • Korn Ferry Tour
  • Challenge Tour
  • PGA Tour Canada
  • Professional Golf Tour
  • Korean Tour
  • PGA Tour Latinoamérica
  • Asian Development Tour
  • PGA Tour China
  • Alps Tour
  • Nordic Golf League
  • PGA EuroPro Tour
  • ProGolf Tour
  • MENA Golf Tour
  • Big Easy Tour
  • China Tour
  • All Thailand Golf Tour
  • Professional Golf Tour of India
  • Abema TV Tour

Hopefully, this is all the information you need to answer the question “What is the history and format behind the OWGR?”. For more information, visit owgr.com

Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at gianni@golfwrx.com.

19th Hole

‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

Published

on

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.

However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.

Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.

Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”

Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.

Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.

Continue Reading

19th Hole

How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Published

on

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.

Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.

Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.

Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.

Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.

“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course.  Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”

According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.

“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”

Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.

Check out Young’s winning WITB here.

Continue Reading

19th Hole

Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Published

on

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.

Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.

Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.

The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.

Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”

“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”

Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.

However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.

“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”

Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending