2008 World Golf Rankings: No. 1, Top 50 at End of Year
Tiger Woods was ranked No. 1 at the end of 2008 despite missing the later part of the year following knee surgery. Prior to that, Woods won four tournaments on the PGA Tour: the Buick Invitational, WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the 2008 U.S. Open. He was also runner-up in the 2008 Masters, plus won the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour.
Men's World Golf Rankings, End of 2008
These were the Top 50 golfers in the final Official World Golf Ranking of the calendar year 2008 (released on Dec. 21, 2008; the number is the player's average ranking points earned per tournament):
1. Tiger Woods, United States, 12.270
2. Sergio Garcia, Spain, 8.214
3. Phil Mickelson, United States, 7.186
4. Padraig Harrington, Ireland, 7.067
5. Vijay Singh, Fiji, 6.780
6. Robert Karlsson, Sweden, 5.147
7. Camilo Villegas, Colombia, 4.969
8. Ernie Els, South Africa, 4.868
9. Henrik Stenson, Sweden, 4.857
10. Lee Westwood, England, 4.804
11. Geoff Ogilvy, Australia, 4.521
12. Anthony Kim, United States, 4.519
13. Jim Furyk, United States, 4.395
14. Steve Stricker, United States, 3.967
15. Kenny Perry, United States, 3.945
16. Stewart Cink, United States, 3.930
17. Adam Scott, Australia, 3.892
18. K.J. Choi, Korea, 3.837
19. Justin Rose, England, 3.668
20. Trevor Immelman, South Africa, 3.465
21. Miguel Angel Jimenez, Spain, 3.407
22. Mike Weir, Canada, 3.406
23. Justin Leonard, United States, 3.299
24. Ben Curtis, United States, 3.171
25. Martin Kaymer, Germany, 3.156
26. Ian Poulter, England, 3.144
27. Robert Allenby, Australia, 3.112
28. Tim Clark, South Africa, 3.034
29. Ross Fisher, England, 2.945
30. Andres Romero, Argentina, 2.921
31. Luke Donald, England, 2.887
32. Rory Sabbatini, South Africa, 2.834
33. Shingo Katayama, Japan, 2.833
34. Graeme McDowell, Northern Ireland, 2.813
35. Aaron Baddeley, Australia, 2.791
36. Jeev Milkha Singh, India, 2.784
37. Stephen Ames, Canada, 2.757
38. Stuart Appleby, Australia, 2.673
39. Oliver Wilson, England, 2.608
40. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland, 2.595
41. Angel Cabrera, Argentina, 2.571
42. Paul Casey, England, 2.566
43. Richard Sterne, South Africa, 2.503
44. Hunter Mahan, United States, 2.497
45. Retief Goosen, South Africa, 2.495
46. Zach Johnson, United States, 2.439
47. Boo Weekley, United States, 2.418
48. Soren Hansen, Denmark, 2.413
49. Lin Wen-Tang, Taiwan, 2.364
50. Soren Kjeldsen, Denmark, 2.300
Comparing the above end-of-2008 rankings with the end-of-2007 rankings, the biggest jump from outside the Top 50 into the Top 50 from 2007 to 2008 was by Rory McIlroy, who moved up from 232nd to No. 40.
The biggest year-to-year drop within the Top 50 was by Angel Cabrera, who fell from No. 14 to No. 41. The full OWGR at the end of 2008 can be viewed in the OWGR Archives.
