Golf is a game of great history and winning the biggest, most prestigious prizes is more important to many players than money or world ranking points. Tommy Fleetwood won tens of millions of dollars before finally claiming his first PGA Tour win and the glory of tournament success no doubt meant far more than the previous handsome cheques he had received (though admittedly that is easy to say when you have the millions banked and can afford to be choosy!).
The Open Championship dates back to 1860, and even the youngest major, the Masters, was founded in 1934. Winning any of the game’s majors would certainly mean more to any golfer than making it to the world number one spot. The world rankings were actually only founded relatively recently. They were officially created in 1986, although prior to the Official World Golf Ranking, there was an unofficial year-end number one in rankings published in the World of Professional Golf Annual.
That dates back to 1968, so it is still considerably younger than the Masters. It is not just the relative newness of the official rankings system that means it is less soughtafter than the majors. The fact is that the majors are what golfers cherish and are seen as the ultimate test.
That said, making it to the summit of the rankings is still a huge achievement that any golfer would be proud of. No British golfer was listed as number one in the unofficial era, when just three players – Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros – monopolised top spot in the years between 1968 and 1986.
Bernhard Langer was the first official world number one, and since then there have been a total of 25 different players who can fairly claim to have been the best golfer on the planet. But how many, if any, of those have been British?
Britain’s First Number 1
Nick Faldo was the first Brit to make it to the top of the rankings and the man from Welwyn Garden City can make a very strong claim to being the greatest British golfer ever. He wasn’t the most popular man on tour in his playing days, but his dry humour and intelligent insight have made him a hit as a pundit.
Faldo won six majors in all, as many as both Lee Trevino and Phil Mickelson achieved, and only one fewer than Arnold Palmer. His first win came in 1987 at the Open Championship. However, it was only after adding the Masters in 1989 and 1990, as well as a second Open in 1990, that he made it to world number one.
He spent six weeks occupying top spot in September and October in 1990. Greg Norman knocked him off but he returned to the top in February the following year for another nine weeks. He then had two more stints at the summit, in March and April, for just a week and then for a massive 81 weeks unbroken from July 1992 until February 1994. It was his third Open win at the start of that period that sent him to number one.
In all, Faldo spent 97 weeks as the world number one. That puts him sixth on the list of players to have made it to the top, and number one in terms of British golfers.
Ian Woosnam
Ian Woosnam was the fifth player to reach number one following the creation of the official rankings and he took top spot from Faldo. Woosnam moved to the number one position on the 7th of April 1991, thanks to two wins in March of that year. His greatest victory ever, however, would come the week after he ascended to the pinnacle of golf when he claimed the 1991 US Masters.
Woosie had five other top-five finishes in Majors, but that was his only triumph. Even so, he was incredibly consistent in the early 1990s and his fine play kept him at the top for two weeks shy of a year.
Lee Westwood
The next British number one was another English player and he made it to the top in a period when the number one position changed hands very frequently. It was the post-Tiger era and before Rory McIlroy had really established himself. After Woods had dominated the game – and the summit of the rankings – for so long, there was something of a vacuum. Woods was top for 281 consecutive weeks from June 2005.
However, Westwood moved top in October 2010, and by the time Woods took his natural position back in March 2013, it was the 11th change at the top. Westy was the first number one never to have won a major but he managed to stay at the top for 17 weeks initially before returning for five more weeks in April and May the following year.
Luke Donald
Luke Donald replaced Westwood at the top in May 2011 and stayed there for 40 weeks. He and McIlroy then treated the position like a hot potato, changing places at the top seven times between March and August of 2012.
In all, Donald had four separate spells at the top, totalling 56 weeks in all. Like Westwood, Donald would never win a major. However, the man from Hertfordshire would claim arguably greater glory with his heroics as a player and, more importantly, a captain at the Ryder Cup. A true European hero, his inability to hit the ball as far as so many of his contemporaries made it harder and harder for him to compete. However, his stunning putting and short game, plus fighting spirit, made him a brilliant match-play golfer, and he proved to be a magnificent leader too.
Justin Rose
Justin Rose is the Brit who has most recently been the world number one. He first made it to the top in September 2018, spending a fortnight as world number one. He spent one more week there early in November that year and then another week later the same month.
He duked it out with Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson at this time for top spot. In total, he had five separate spells as the game’s top dog, though he spent only 13 weeks in total as world number one. His one major to date, the 2013 US Open, came well before his time at the top of the rankings, though he did finish second in the 2018 Open.
What About Rory?
Rory McIlroy does not feature on this list for the simple reason that he is not British. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but not Britain. He is right up there alongside, or ahead of, Faldo in terms of the best UK golfer of all time. The man who completed the career Grand Slam in 2025 has won five majors as of the end of 2025.
He has also spent 122 weeks as world number one. Only four players have been there longer, and McIlroy has spent nine spells there too. Can he add to those numbers? Time will tell.