A history of life at the top

Golf's No 1 players since the official rankings were introduced in 1986:

BERNHARD LANGER (Germany) April 6-26, 1986 (3 weeks)

SEVE BALLESTEROS (Spain) April 27-Sept 9, 1986; Nov 27, 1987; Oct 30, 1988; Nov 13, 1988-March 19, 1989; April 2-Aug 13, 1989 (61 weeks)

GREG NORMAN (Australia) Sept 14, 1986-Nov 15, 1987; Nov 29, 1987-Oct 23, 1988; Nov 6, 1988; March 26, 1989; Aug 20, 1989-Aug 26, 1990;Oct 14, 1990-Jan 27,1991; Feb 6-Aug 7, 1994; July 18, 1995-April 13, 1997; April 27-June 8, 1997; June 29, 1997; Sept 7, 1997-Jan 4, 1998 (331 weeks)

NICK FALDO (England) Sept 2-Oct 7, 1990; Feb 3-March 31, 1991; March 29, 1992; July 19, 1992-Jan 30, 1994 (97 weeks)

IAN WOOSNAM (Wales) April 7, 1991-March 15, 1992 (50 weeks)

FRED COUPLES (USA) March 22, 1992; April 5-July 12, 1992 (16 weeks)

NICK PRICE (Zimbabwe) Aug 14, 1994-June 11, 1995 (44 weeks)

TOM LEHMAN (USA) April 20, 1997 (1 week)

TIGER WOODS (USA) June 15, 1997; July 6-Aug 31, 1997; Jan 11-April 5, 1998; May 10, 1988; June 14, 1998-March 21, 1999; July 4-Aug 1, 1999; Aug 15, 1999-Aug 29, 2004; March 6-13, 2005; April 10-May 15, 2005; June 12, 2005- Oct 24, 2010 (623 weeks)

ERNIE ELS (South Africa) 22 June 1997; 12 April-3 May 1998; 15 May-7 June 1998 (9 weeks)

DAVID DUVAL (USA) March 28-June 27, 1999; Aug 8 (15 weeks)

VIJAY SINGH (Fiji) Sept 6 2004-Feb 27, 2005; March 20-April 3, 2005; May 22-June 5, 2005 (32 weeks)

LEE WESTWOOD (England) Oct 31, 2010-Feb 20, 2011; April 24-May 22, 2011 (22 weeks)

MARTIN KAYMER (Germany) Feb 27-April 17, 2011 (8 weeks)

LUKE DONALD (England) May 29, 2011-Feb 26, 2012; March 19- April 16, 2012 (44 weeks)

RORY McIlROY (Northern Ireland) March 5-12, 2012; April 16, 2012 (2 weeks)

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