1988 World Golf Rankings: No. 1, Top 50 at End of Year

Who was the No. 1 player in men's golf at the end of 1988? Which golfers finished the year ranked the highest in the Official World Golf Ranking? Below is the year-end list of 1988's top-ranked golfers.

Seve Ballesteros was ranked No. 1 at the end of the year after winning the 1988 British Open, plus the U.S. PGA Tour's Westchester Classic. Ballesteros had five wins on the European Tour. In addition to The Open, those were the Mallorca Open de Baleares, Scandinavian Enterprise Open, German Open and Trophee Lancome. He also won the Taiheiyo Club Masters in Japan, and the non-Tour APG Larios.

Men's World Golf Rankings, End of 1988

These were the Top 50 golfers in the final Official World Golf Ranking of the calendar year 1988. For comparison's sake, the Top 10 golfers are listed with their average ranking points earned per tournament.

1. Seve Ballesteros, Spain, 1458
2. Greg Norman, Australia, 1365
3. Sandy Lyle, Scotland, 1297
4. Nick Faldo, England, 1103
5. Curtis Strange, United States, 1092
6. Ben Crenshaw, United States, 898
7. Ian Woosnam, Wales, 854
8. David Frost, South Africa, 843
9. Paul Azinger, United States, 825
10. Mark Calcavecchia, United States, 819
11. Jumbo Ozaki, Japan
12. Chip Beck, United States
13. Tom Kite, United States
14. Lanny Wadkins, United States
15. Bernhard Langer, Germany
16. Payne Stewart, United States
17. Ken Green, United States
18. Mark McNulty, Zimbabwe
19. Fred Couples, United States
20. Jose Maria Olazabal, Spain
21. Joey Sindelar, United States
22. Rodger Davis, Australia
23. Larry Nelson, United States
24. David Ishii, United States
25. Mark O'Meara, United States
26. Mark McCumber, United States
26. (tie) Steve Pate, United States
28. Larry Mize, United States
29. Tom Watson, United States
30. Jeff Sluman, United States
30. (tie) Isao Aoki, Japan
32. Tommy Nakajima, Japan
33. Scott Simpson, United States
34. Bob Tway, United States
35. Mike Reid, United States
36. Dan Pohl, United States
37. Craig Stadler, United States
38. Ian Baker-Finch, Australia
39. Scott Hoch, United States
40. Don Pooley, United States
41. Nick Price, Zimbabwe
42. Peter Senior, Australia
43. Jay Haas, United States
44. Ronan Rafferty, Northern Ireland
45. Gordon Brand Jr., Scotland
46. Corey Pavin, United States
47. Massy Kuramoto, Japan
48. Bruce Lietzke, United States
49. Des Smyth, Ireland
50. Mark James, England

Comparing the above end-of-1988 rankings with the end-of-1987 rankings, the biggest jump from outside the Top 50 into the Top 50 from 1987 to 1988 was by Des Smyth, who went from No. 130 to No. 49.

The full OWGR at the end of 1988 can be viewed in the OWGR Archives.