Top Positions

The number 1 ranked player from each of the season-ending Included Orders of Merit (in relation to the immediately preceding season) will be ranked in the International Federation Ranking List according to their current OWGR ranking to fill the top positions of the International Federation Ranking List, subject to the rules on multiple appearances below, to determine the "Top Positions"

Further Positions

To determine the positions following the Top Positions and up to position 40 of the International Federation Ranking List each Included Order of Merit shall contribute further players according to their position in the relevant Included Order of Merit (i.e. closest to first position) to provide a total of 10 players from that Included Order of Merit appearing in the International Federation Ranking List (including any players appearing in the Top Positions), subject to the rules on multiple appearances below, with such players ranked according to their current OWGR ranking.

Rules on Multiple Appearances

A player may only appear once on the International Federation Ranking List, even if they are included in more than one Included Order of Merit. Where a player appears in more than one Included Order of Merit in positions which would otherwise be eligible for inclusion in the International Federation Ranking List, the following shall apply:

• players appearing in more than one Included Order of Merit shall be included in the International Federation Ranking List from the Included Order of Merit in which they hold the higher ranking (i.e. closer to first position) and, for the purposes of the International Federation Ranking List, will be deemed to be removed from any Included Order of Merit in which they hold lower positions; and
• players appearing in the same position in more than one Included Order of Merit shall be included in the International Federation Ranking List from the Included Order of Merit for the Eligible Golf Tour on which they earned the higher number of Ranking Points in the immediately preceding 12 month period and for the purposes of the International Federation Ranking List, will be deemed to be removed from any Included Order of Merit for any Eligible Golf Tours in which they earned fewer Ranking Points.

Included Orders of Merit

For positions other than the Top Positions, the Included Orders of Merit to be used by OWGR to determine the International Federation Ranking List shall be either:

• The season-ending Included Order of Merit as published by the relevant Eligible Golf Tour; or
• The Included Order of Merit as published by the relevant Eligible Golf Tour in respect of the current season (once sufficient events have been played to deem it valid for the purposes of the International Federation Ranking List).

Included Orders of Merit Crossover Dates

The relevant Eligible Golf Tour shall nominate the date on which the Included Order of Merit is to be changed from that published at the end of the previous season to that published in respect of the current season.

Every player in a tournament field contributes Performance Points as determined by the player’s individual Strokes Gained World Rating.  The sum of these Performance Points determines the Field Rating.

Field Rating replaces what was previously referred to as a tournament Strength of Field (SoF).

The Field Rating for each tournament is finalised once all players have teed off.

The sum of the Performance Points for all players in the field determines each tournament's Field Rating, which equals the total Ranking Points to be distributed at the conclusion of the event.

Points awarded can be greater than the Total Field Rating to account for ties when more than the projected number of players make the cut and complete the tournament.

Points awarded may be less than the Total Field Rating, where players who have made the cut are disqualified, retired, or withdrawn from the later rounds.

Strokes Gained World Rating is based on a player’s actual scores in stroke-play events adjusted for the relative difficulty of each round played over a rolling two-year period.  This rating is presented relative to all players within the Ranking.

Strokes Gained World Rating is made possible by the interconnectivity of professional golf. In a given two-year period, there are approximately 2,800 rounds in which 8,600 players have posted 250,000 scores. With many rounds in common, professional golfers are interconnected at and through all levels of play.

Strokes Gained World Rating provides a mathematically justifiable approach to evaluate the skill level of all players within an event, while putting the player in control of his contribution via his posted scores.

Step 1

To account for round difficulty, including differences in field, course and scoring conditions – a widely accepted statistical model uses the 250,000 scores to standardise all 2,800 rounds relative to one another by providing an adjustment to each round, called a “Round Equalizer.”

A round with some combination of highly skilled players, difficult courses or challenging scoring conditions will have a greater value for its Round Equalizer. A round with a lesser degree of the above will have a smaller value for its Round Equalizer.

Step 2

The unique Round Equalizer for each of the 2,800 rounds is applied to all scores within the particular round.

Step 3

Each player’s “equalized” scores in the two-year period are averaged and then presented relative to all other tracked players, resulting in each player’s Strokes Gained World Rating.

A player with a high level of skill might have a Strokes Gained World Rating of 2.20, while a player of lesser skill might have a Strokes Gained World Rating of -0.20.

Players with fewer than 10 rounds will contribute 0.01 Performance Points to a tournament Field Rating in which they play.

Players with fewer than 50 recorded scores will contribute no more than a maximum of 10% of a tournament Field Rating.

When individual scores are adjusted according to round difficulty, there is more normality in distribution than is seen in raw scores.

Therefore, erratic scoring behaviour is minimised, causing little effect on a player’s Strokes Gained World Rating and no effect on the Ranking.

The adjusted scoring average does not take into account the strength of a field or the connectivity of professional golf. Strokes Gained World Rating is based on adjusted scores that are further adjusted to account for the strength of a field relative to that of the global game.

If every player’s Strokes Gained World Rating was used for a ranking system (i.e., the player with the best Strokes Gained World Rating would be ranked first in the world, the player with the second-best would be ranked second, and so forth), the system would be efficient in its ability to predict future performance.

However, a Ranking system such as this would not place a premium on winning (i.e., winners of a tournament would not appreciably rise in the Ranking) and would not adhere to commonly accepted norms of the game (e.g., Majors are the pinnacle of the sport).

The performance curve is the mechanism used to determine the value of Performance Points per Strokes Gained World Rating.

On average, the skill required to win a tournament is directly impacted by the size of its field, which should be reflected in the tournament’s Field Rating and the quantity of Ranking Points available.

For example, consider two tournaments, one with 70 players and another with the same 70 players plus an additional 30. It should be expected the second tournament—the one with 100 players—is statistically more difficult to win than the first, and therefore should award more Ranking Points.

The Major Championships are awarded 100 First-Place Points as they are widely recognised as the pinnacle of men’s professional golf and are rewarded as such in the Ranking.

THE PLAYERS Championship is set at 80 First Place Points to reflect its strength and depth of field and all other events capped at 80 First Place Points to ensure the Majors maintain a 25% premium.

Additionally, keeping the Majors at 100 First Place Points and the PLAYERS at 80 provides continuity at the game’s highest level.

A Players’s historical Ranking Points can be located on their profile page. using the drop-down menu and selecting the relevant year.

Each Eligible Golf Tour is responsible for submitting its Tournament Data to OWGR.

A tournament Field will be visible on the website once this data has been received.

There will always be a chance that a player could advance up the rankings by not playing as the calculations are based on an average of the tournaments played.