Scottie Scheffler continues to be the dominant world No 1 in men's golf, but how long will he stay top of the rankings and will he put more of Tiger Woods' records under threat? Scheffler remains the most recent addition to the list of 25 players to have topped the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) since its introduction in 1986, with the American having four different spells at No 1 so far in his career. The latest spell remains unbroken since May 2023, with Scheffler - as of October 12 - entering his 178th consecutive week as world No 1 and with a larger advantage over world No 2 Rory McIlroy than the Northern Irishman has over almost every active professional.
Scheffler is expected to only tee it up once more in 2026, at the Hero World Challenge from December 3-6 - an event he has finished first or second in four times over the last five years - although he already looks to have locked in starting the new year as No 1. The world rankings run over a rolling two-year cycle, with points awarded based on the strength of that tournament's field and how high a player finishes on the leaderboard. A golfer's world ranking then comes from dividing the number of points earned by the number of tournaments someone has played during the cycle, while bonus ranking points are given to players who have won multiple events in a 52-week period.
Scheffler registered two major wins among his six worldwide titles in 2025 and already has three victories in 2026, a campaign in which his remarkable consistency has seen him post top-three finishes in half of his 20 worldwide starts. "He's the best player in the world by a country mile," said Sky Sports' Andrew Coltart. "It's his distance control and his ability to get scoring irons pin-high basically all the time, along with an incredible level of consistency.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "Also, very importantly, I think it's his golfing IQ and his understanding of how his game is and where his game is at - that's why he's the dominant force in the game." Claiming his first three PGA Tour titles in a seven-week stretch saw Scheffler take top spot for the first time in March 2022, a fortnight before his maiden major victory at The Masters, a position he held until McIlroy overtook him that October. Scheffler enjoyed a one-week burst back at the top after his 2023 WM Phoenix Open win and another four-week run after winning The Players the following month, before Jon Rahm leapfrogged him with his second major win secured at Augusta National. Rahm would lose top spot when Scheffler tied-second at the PGA Championship a month later, with no player since able to end his ever-increasing reign as world No 1.
"He has managed to stay at the top for so long because he has no weaknesses across his game," Sky Sports' Nick Dougherty said. "He was once a below-average putter, but he's now world class and a top-10 putter. "The iron play is peerless - he's not just the best, he's the best by a mile when he's at his very peak.
He leads birdie average and leads bogey avoidance. When you look at all of that together, there's just a reason he's better than everyone in every area." Only Woods and Greg Norman have spent longer in their careers at world No 1 than Scheffler, who aged just 30 has already won 22 PGA Tour titles - including four majors and three legs of the career Grand Slam - and cemented his status among the greats. Woods was world No 1 for 281 consecutive weeks from June 2005 to October 2010, breaking his own record of 264 weeks previously held from August 1999 to September 2004, with Scheffler the closest to ever seriously threaten those historic runs.
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