YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED: HOW DOES THE WORLD RANKING WORK?

Can you please outline how the men’s Official World Golf Ranking works?

All tournaments held by the ‘Eligible Golf Tours’ around the world distribute World Ranking Points (with the exception of team events). All players competing in these events, be they professionals or amateurs, are awarded points based on their finishing position, with the number of points distributed based on the tournament’s ‘strength of field’.

Strength of field is calculated by combining what the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) calls ‘World Rating’ and ‘Home Tour Rating’. The world rating takes into account the number of players inside the top-200 of the current rankings competing in the event, while the home Tour rating is based off the number of players from inside the top-30 of the previous year’s money list playing that week.

Players are ranked by their average points per tournament that is calculated over a two-year rolling period. Points awarded inside the previous 13 weeks are maintained before decreasing in value over the remaining 91 weeks of the two-year period, the total number of points then divided by the number of events played in the rolling period. A minimum divisor of 40 tournaments and a maximum of 52 are in place to balance the rankings regardless of how often each individual plays.

Each eligible Tour has a minimum points to be played for at its events, as well as a single flagship tournament (the Australian Open for example) that is guaranteed to offer a higher minimum points value, while the majors, World Golf Championships and Olympics distribute more points to more players to represent the higher quality of events.

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Bradley Toomey Via email