Why Tiger Woods is facing a new world ranking dilemma

Tiger Woods has hit a new low in golf’s world rankings – but that’s not a surprise given he’s not playing. But now there’s something else to worry about…

Tiger Woods spent 683 weeks at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.

It’s a number that will never be matched.

For context, Greg Norman spent most of the 1990s as World No.1, and the Australian is second on 331 weeks.

In third is Scottie Scheffler, the current runaway No.1, at 162 weeks. To catch Woods, he would need to spend another 521 weeks there. So the earliest he could do it would be October 15, 2035.

Another 10 years!

Even just to match Woods’ longest streak of 281 weeks, Scheffler will need to stay at the top of the rankings until the end of September 2028.

That’s how crazy Woods’ achievement was – and why no one will ever do it again.   

Now, though, the 15-time major champion faces a new dilemma.

The 49-year-old is currently sidelined by yet another injury, and it doesn’t look like he’ll play again before 2026 – by which point he’ll have turned 50 and be eligible for the Champions Tour.

Woods hasn’t teed up in an OWGR event since the 2024 Open Championship, and as a result has dropped to a new low in the world rankings of 2,084 – nestled between China’s Deng Tao and Japan’s Daisuke Yasumoto.

But it gets worse.

Due to the nature of how the Official World Golf ranking is calculated over a two-year period, Woods faces a race against time and runs the risk of losing his Official World Golf Ranking altogether if he can’t tee up before our next trip to Augusta.

It’s not looking promising. Woods has teed up just 11 times in almost five years since the car accident that almost cost him a leg.

In 2022, he finished 47th at the Masters before withdrawing ahead of the final round of the PGA Championship and missing the cut at the Open.

In ’23, Woods recorded a tied-45th at the Genesis Invitational before withdrawing from the Masters after making the cut. He then finished 18th out of 20 at the Hero World Challenge.

And last year he pulled out of the Genesis Invitational after just one round, suffering from flu-like symptoms, before a 60th at Augusta. He then failed to make the weekend in the other three majors – and the tap-in for par to conclude a round of 77 on the Friday at Royal Troon was the most recent competitive shot he hit.

• Tiger Woods injury timeline: The trials of a sportsman who defied the odds (and his own body)

• Tiger Woods hit with another injury setback – but how long will he be out for?