Official World Golf Ranking explanation

The Official World Ranking, which is endorsed by the organisations that conduct the four major championships and the five professional tours that make up the International Federation of PGA Tours, is issued every Monday following the completion of the previous week's tournaments from around the world.

The events from the five professional tours -- the PGA Tour, PGA European Tour, Southern African PGA Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, and PGA Tour of Japan -- are evaluated and points are awarded according to the players' finishing positions. Tournaments are "rated" according to the strength of field based on the number of and ranking of the players in respective tournament fields (event "ratings").The four major championships (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA) and The Players Championship are rated separately to reflect the higher quality of the events. In addition, the Volvo PGA Championship in Europe and the Australian, Japan, and South African Open Championships are allocated higher minimum point levels to reflect their status.

The World Ranking points for each player are accumulated over a two-year "rolling" period, with the points accumulated in the most recent 52-week period doubled. Each player is then ranked according to his average points per tournament, which is determined by dividing his total number of points by the number of tournaments he has played over that two-year period. There is a minimum requirement of 20 tournaments for each 52-week period. For example, if a player was in 32 tournaments in the most recent 52 weeks and 15 events in the previous 52 weeks, his divisor would be 52 (32 plus 20). A player who was in 32 tournaments each year would have a divisor of 64 (32 plus 32.)

The winners of the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship are awarded 50 points (doubled to 100 in the current year) with 30 points going to second place, 20 for third, 15 for fourth, down to a single point for a player completing the final round. The winner of The Players Championship is awarded 40 points (80 in the current year) with points awarded down to 50th place. The Volvo PGA Championship has a minimum of 32 points for the winner with points awarded down to 40th place. Minimum points levels for the winners of official Tour events have been set at six points for Southern African (points to ninth place), eight points for Australasia and Japan (points to 11th place), and 12 points for Europe and the U.S. (points to 16th place). In addition, the Open Championships of Australia and Japan have a minimum of 16 points for the winner (down to a single point for 21st place).

The winner of a regular tour event with a relatively strong field would receive approximately 25-30 points (50-60 in current year).

Full Ranking Points points are awarded for tournaments reduced to 54 holes because of inclement weather or other reasons. For events completing only 36 holes, Ranking Points are reduced by 25 percent.