Whenever you look back at the world rankings over the past 20+ years, there's a good chance that Tiger Woods will be top.
The 15-time Major champion has spent a record 683 weeks as World No.1 and he was right at the summit when I recently looked back at how the top-10 stood this week in 2008.
Woods was in his record streak of 261 consecutive weeks as No.1 at that time, and he hadn't even played since June. That was when he famously won the US Open 'on one leg' with two stress fractures and a torn ACL in his left knee. He needed 91 holes but eventually beat Rocco Mediate on the first extra hole after an 18-hole Monday playoff - after his epic birdie putt on the 72nd to take the US Open into day five (most clutch putt of Woods' career? Quite possibly!)
But looking back on these rankings 15 years later, there are some huge names and some memorable players, too.
In second spot behind Tiger was Sergio Garcia, who was having a heck of year in 2008. He won the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and then was 2nd in the Tour Championship. He was also 2nd at the PGA Championship before picking up wins at the Castello Masters in Spain before victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China to move up to second.
Garcia actually spent 18 weeks as World No.2 in his career, all in this stretch from November to March 2009, without ever reaching the top.
In third was Phil Mickelson, who won twice on the PGA Tour that season, fourth the 2008 FedEx Cup champion Vijay Singh and in fifth Padraig Harrington. The Irishman had won the year's final two Majors, where he successfully defended The Open at Royal Birkdale before taking down Sergio Garcia at Oakland Hills in the PGA Championship.
In sixth was Robert Karlsson, who had won the Mercedez Benz Championship and Alfred Dunhill Links in back-to-back weeks, with recent PGA Tour winner Camilo Villegas in seventh. The Colombian was at his highest ever world ranking at this point, following back-to-back FedEx Cup Playoff wins at the BMW Championship and Tour Championship.
Those were his first two PGA Tour wins, with his fifth coming 15 years later at the Bermuda Championship. Villegas was 752nd in the world two weeks ago and is now up to 163rd after a T2nd in Mexico before that win in Bermuda.
Lee Westwood was in eighth position, with the Englishman enjoying a superb yet winless year in '08. He recorded ten top-five finishes around the world, including runners-up spots in Abu Dhabi, at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the British Masters. He was also 3rd at the US Open at Torrey Pines, where he finished one stroke outside of the playoff between Woods and Mediate.
In ninth-place was the enigma that is Anthony Kim. The talented, young American was coming off a special Ryder Cup at Valhalla where he took down Sergio Garcia 5&4 in the opening singles match on Sunday. Kim was one of the brightest prospects in the game at this point, having won his first two PGA Tour titles in '08 at the Wachovia Championship and AT&T National.
What would Kim's future in the game be? Multiple Majors? Ryder Cup legend status? We couldn't have predicted what would come next.
Kim played his final PGA Tour event in May 2012, and some 11 years later he has never been seen on Tour again, for reasons that are still largely unknown.
Interestingly, Kim was one of just two Americans in a global top-10. Fast forward 15 years and the men's top-10 contains six US players.
Rounding out the top-10 was Henrik Stenson, the fifth European and second Swede in the list. Stenson had a superb year with 11 top-six finishes including a win at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
