According to the Official World Golf Ranking, Tiger Woods was the number one golfer in 1997.
The following is a list of the 20 golfers who have risen to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking . The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers ( although there is no rule prohibiting women from being ranked ) . Tiger Woods . He first reached the number one position in the world rankings in June 1997 , after less than a year as a professional .