1997 World Golf Rankings: No. 1, Top 50 at End of Year
Greg Norman was ranked No. 1 at the end of the year after winning twice on the PGA Tour, at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and NEC World Series of Golf. Those were the final two PGA Tour wins of Norman's career. He also made it into two playoffs on the European Tour and one on the Australian Tour, although he lost all three.
Men's World Golf Rankings, End of 1997
These were the Top 50 golfers in the final Official World Golf Ranking of the calendar year 1997 (the number is the player's average ranking points earned per tournament):
1. Greg Norman, Australia, 11.49
2. Tiger Woods, United States, 10.76
3. Nick Price, Zimbabwe, 9.93
4. Ernie Els, South Africa, 9.89
5. Davis Love III, United States, 9.09
6. Phil Mickelson, United States, 8.73
7. Colin Montgomerie, Scotland, 8.58
8. Jumbo Ozaki, Japan, 8.05
9. Tom Lehman, United States, 8.02
10. Mark O'Meara, United States, 7.98
11. Justin Leonard, United States, 7.00
12. David Duval, United States, 6.87
13. Scott Hoch, United States, 6.85
14. Brad Faxon, United States, 6.66
15. Vijay Singh, Fiji, 6.54
16. Steve Elkington, Australia, 6.49
17. Nick Faldo, England, 6.44
18. Jesper Parnevik, Sweden, 5.70
19. Tom Watson, United States, 5.48
20. Fred Couples, United States, 5.47
21. Bernhard Langer, Germany, 5.39
22. Jim Furyk, United States, 5.34
23. Lee Westwood, England, 5.26
24. Steve Jones, United States, 5.21
25. Ian Woosnam, Wales, 5.06
26. Frank Nobilo, New Zealand, 4.92
27. Loren Roberts, United States, 4.88
28. Mark Calcavecchia, United States, 4.42
29. Jeff Maggert, United States, 4.38
30. Mark McNulty, Ireland, 4.23
31. Paul Stankowski, United States, 4.09
32. Tommy Tolles, United States, 3.96
33. Shigeki Maruyama, Japan, 3.89
34. Lee Janzen, United States, 3.79
35. John Cook, United States, 3.70
36. Darren Clarke, Northern Ireland, 3.65
37. Brian Watts, United States, 3.64
38. Tom Kite, United States, 3.59
39. Craig Stadler, United States, 3.51
40. Craig Parry, Australia, 3.49
41. Bill Glasson, United States, 3.48
42. Jose Maria Olazabal, Spain, 3.40
43. Steve Stricker, United States, 3.30
44. (tie) Stuart Appleby, Australia, 3.29
44. (tie) Scott McCarron, United States, 3.29
46. Joe Ozaki, Japan, 3.22
47. Payne Stewart, United States, 3.15
48. Per-Ulrik Johansson, Sweden, 3.07
49. Bob Tway, United States, 2.98
50. Robert Allenby, Australia, 2.96
Comparing the above end-of-1997 rankings with the end-of-1996 rankings, the biggest jump from outside the Top 50 into the Top 50 from 1996 to 1997 was by Jose Maria Olazabal, who improved from No. 220 to No. 42.
The biggest year-to-year drop within the Top 50 was by Steve Stricker, who fell from 12th to 43rd. The full OWGR at the end of 1997 can be viewed in the OWGR Archives.
