We have had three dominant faces in world golf in 2023, but who are the top ranked men golf players in the world?

The three golfers holding the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Official World Ranking positions, and their accomplishments underline exactly why they are streets ahead of the rest of the world.

The history of golf goes back centuries. While seemingly, nobody can agree on the game’s origins, most have come to a consensus that golf’s origins can be traced to the Scottish Highlands in the 1600s.

Today, the sport is huge in Europe, America, even in Asia. In large part, we have online sportsbooks to thank for that.

Websites like Lucky Niki Japan attract a lot of customers from all over the world, and for good reason. They offer extensive, thorough coverage on golf, and set up fair odds that many bettors would enjoy.

The World Golf Rankings

The Official World Golf Rankings was a system first established in 1986. Its purpose is obvious; determine the greatest golf players at any point in the sport, starting from 1986.

The rankings take into account a player’s position in any individual tournament, over the course of two years, with new rankings being calculated weekly.

The Women’s World Golf rankings followed, sponsored by the Swiss watch company, Rolex. For the interested, here is a comprehensive list of the Women’s World Golf Rankings.

In this article, though, we focus on a the three best individual players from the Men’s World Golf Rankings list as the 2023 seasons come to an end.

Scottie Scheffler

American Scottie Scheffler currently holds the number one rank in the world, which he first attained in March of 2022. After that, he has held the ranking for 48 weeks, and still does so today.

Scheffler has had several impressive achievements. In 2022 he won his first, and to date only, major championship at the 2022 Masters.

His most recent impressive win was taking the first spot in the 2023 Players Championship.

Scottie began playing on the PGA Tour in 2020 and during at the USPGA Championship he tied for fourth place in a season in which he earned the Rookie of the Year award.

The next three years have been an upward trajectory, winning six times on the PGA Tour including the Masters success and earning the number one rank on the back of consistency.

Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy holds the second rank in the World Golf Ranking currently, but has held the number one ranking for 100 weeks previously.

He is a four-time major champion, and along with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus is the only golfer to win four majors by age 25.

McIlroy has also done well for himself as a national representative. He has played for Europe, Great Britain & Ireland, as well as the Republic of Ireland at both a professional and amateur level.

For Europe, he has played the Ryder Cup on six different occasions, most recently in 2021.

Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm is another golfer who has held the number one ranking, and the Spaniard current number three is another major winner.

He also held the World Amateur Golf Ranking number one status for 60 weeks, which was a record at the time, though has since been broken.

After his achievements on the amateur stage, he went pro, and managed to rise to the top and hold the 1st rank in the official rankings as well.

His biggest achievement came in 2021, when he became the first Spanish player to win one of golf’s most prestigious tournaments, the US Open.

More recently, Rahm won his second major championship with victory in the 2023 Masters to cement himself as one of the best golfers in the world today.

Overall, the Spanish player has racked up 20 professional wins and has played on Europe’s side in the Ryder Cups both in the 2018 and 2021.