Tiger Woods attained number one ranking in the world in 1997.
Tiger Woods . He first reached the number one position in the world rankings in June 1997 , after less than a year as a professional . Throughout the 2000s , Woods was the dominant force in golf ; from August 1999 to September 2004 ( 264 weeks ) and from June 2005 to October 2010 ( 281 weeks ) , Woods was the top-ranked men 's golfer in the world .