Rory McIlroy Becomes New World Number One
The four-time Major winner has overtaken Brooks Koepka to return to the World No.1 spot
The four-time Major winner has overtaken Brooks Koepka to return to the World No.1 spot
Rory McIlroy To Return To World Number One Spot Next Week
Rory McIlroy has returned to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in over 1,600 days.
The Northern Irishman was last World No.1 on 13th September 2015 and spends his 96th week and eighth spell at the top.
That's partly because of Brooks Koepka's inactivity due to injury and Rory's great play, with McIlroy winning twice since Koepka's last victory to close the gap on his American counterpart.
McIlroy got back to the top without even playing due to his divisor dropping last week because he played in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am two years ago.
Related: "I think I'm nearly done here" - Jason Day reveals he considered retirement
Subscribe to the Golf Monthly newsletter to stay up to date with all the latest tour news, equipment news, reviews, head-to-heads and buyer’s guides from our team of experienced experts.
Brooks Koepka divisor stayed the same.
With Rory's divisor dropping, his average points per start increases.
It has been a slow-but-steady rise to the top for Rory who ended 2017 ranked 11th and ended 2018 ranked 8th.
His four-win 2019, featuring 19 top-10s from 25 starts, propelled him back up to second.
Brooks Koepka's reign ends at 47 weeks, having been ranked #1 for the last 38-consecutive weeks.
Rory McIlroy has spent 95 weeks as World Number One and needs just three more weeks at the top to overtake Nick Faldo's total of 97.
If he manages that, he'll become the third-most successful golfer in Official World Golf Ranking history in terms of time spent as World No.1.
As it stands, Tiger Woods has spent 683 weeks at the top of the rankings with Greg Norman in second at 331 weeks.
Dustin Johnson is just behind McIlroy with 91 weeks spent at the top.
Related: LPGA Tour cancels Asia events due to coronavirus
McIlroy makes his second start of 2020 this week at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, where Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka are also be playing.
"It is a by-product of playing consistently good golf and I feel like I’ve done that for quite a while now," McIlroy said a couple of weeks ago when asked about the prospect of becoming World Number One again.
“So I don’t want to say it feels like it’s just a matter of time, but if I just keep doing what I’m doing, if it isn’t this week, then hopefully it’s a couple weeks down the line and I’ll have my chances."
For all the latest golf news, check the Golf Monthly website and follow our social media channels @golfmonthlymagazine on Facebook and @golfmonthly on Twitter and Instagram
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He covered the 2022 and 2025 Masters from Augusta National and was there by the 18th green to watch Rory McIlroy complete the career grand slam. He has also covered five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews.