DG Rankings › Trends › Skill Gap
Ranking Trends
The DG Rankings can also be used to shed light on broader trends in professional golf. Here are a few that we regularly check in on. If you have an idea for another plot or trend for this section, please reach out.
Skill Gap Between DG Rankings #1 and #2
One way to measure a player's dominance at any point in time is to compare their skill estimate (DG Index) with that of their closest competitor. The plot below shows the gap between #1 and #2 in the weekly DG Rankings since 1983, with each bar coloured by who was #1 that week. The height of a player's bars (the gap to #2) and the number of bars (weeks spent at #1) together give a sense of how dominant each player has been during their time at top of professional golf.
Max #1 Gap
#1
#2
Tiger Woods Scottie Scheffler Greg Norman Fred Couples Jon Rahm Nick Faldo Seve Ballesteros Jordan Spieth Rory McIlroy Jason Day Dustin Johnson Tom Watson Other
Current Skill Gap
#1  Scottie Scheffler (2.79)
#2  Sam Burns (1.67)
#1 vs #2 Skill Gap 1.12
Weeks at #1 187 total (3rd all-time)
All DG #1s since 1983
Ranking Dates
Player Wks at #1Wks Prim. Rival Max #1 Gap Max #1 GapMax Date Last #1
 TigerT. Woods Tiger  Woods
613 V. Singh
1.96
Feb 2008 Jan 2014
 GregG. Norman Greg  Norman
273 N. Price
0.93
May 1994 Oct 1997
 ScottieS. Scheffler Scottie  Scheffler
187 R. McIlroy
1.33
Jan 2026 Nov 2026
 RoryR. McIlroy Rory  McIlroy
150 J. Rahm
0.45
Oct 2022 Sep 2023
 SeveS. Ballesteros Seve  Ballesteros
82 G. Norman
0.52
Jun 1987 Feb 1989
 JonJ. Rahm Jon  Rahm
81 P. Cantlay
0.85
Aug 2021 May 2023
 DustinD. Johnson Dustin  Johnson
74 J. Rose
0.35
May 2019 Feb 2021
 JasonJ. Day Jason  Day
57 J. Spieth
0.42
Sep 2015 Nov 2016
 TomT. Watson Tom  Watson
55 J. Nicklaus
0.26
Aug 1984 Apr 1985
 JordanJ. Spieth Jordan  Spieth
46 R. McIlroy
0.5
Aug 2015 Jan 2018
 FredF. Couples Fred  Couples
44 N. Faldo
0.87
Mar 1992 Apr 1996
 BernhardB. Langer Bernhard  Langer
44 S. Ballesteros
0.34
Feb 1986 Mar 1988
 NickN. Faldo Nick  Faldo
42 N. Price
0.66
Sep 1992 May 1993
 TomT. Lehman Tom  Lehman
34 F. Couples
0.32
Jan 1997 Sep 1997
 LukeL. Donald Luke  Donald
34 L. Westwood
0.44
Oct 2011 Jun 2012
 VijayV. Singh Vijay  Singh
33 T. Woods
0.4
May 2004 May 2005
 SergioS. Garcia Sergio  Garcia
29 P. Mickelson
0.5
Feb 2009 May 2014
 DavisD. Love III Davis  Love III
27 G. Norman
0.12
Jan 1998 Jan 1999
 NickN. Price Nick  Price
26 G. Norman
0.23
Jun 1997 Jul 1997
 LeeL. Westwood Lee  Westwood
26 T. Woods
0.36
Nov 2010 Jun 2012
 DavidD. Duval David  Duval
24 D. Love III
0.57
Apr 1999 May 1999
 Jose MariaJ. Olazabal Jose Maria  Olazabal
22 G. Norman
0.33
Mar 1991 May 1991
 ErnieE. Els Ernie  Els
22 T. Woods
0.28
Jul 2004 Aug 2004
 PayneP. Stewart Payne  Stewart
18 G. Norman
0.11
May 1989 Jan 1990
 SteveS. Stricker Steve  Stricker
18 T. Woods
0.15
Jul 2011 Dec 2013
 JimJ. Furyk Jim  Furyk
16 R. McIlroy
0.14
Jul 1998 Mar 2015
 JustinJ. Thomas Justin  Thomas
16 D. Johnson
0.18
May 2022 May 2022
 HenrikH. Stenson Henrik  Stenson
14 J. Day
0.15
Feb 2017 Feb 2017
 JackJ. Nicklaus Jack  Nicklaus
12 H. Irwin
0.28
Mar 1984 Jul 1984
 ColinC. Montgomerie Colin  Montgomerie
12 N. Price
0.17
Oct 1996 Oct 1996
 MarkM. O'Meara Mark  O'Meara
12 F. Couples
0.3
Jun 1996 Jul 1996
 TomT. Kite Tom  Kite
11 F. Couples
0.32
Mar 1989 Mar 1993
 JustinJ. Rose Justin  Rose
10 D. Johnson
0.19
Dec 2018 Jan 2019
 CraigC. Stadler Craig  Stadler
9 T. Watson
0.23
May 1985 May 1985
 GraemeG. McDowell Graeme  McDowell
9 L. Westwood
0.35
Mar 2011 Mar 2011
 CoreyC. Pavin Corey  Pavin
8 C. Stadler
0.23
Jun 1985 Jul 1991
 AdamA. Scott Adam  Scott
7 S. Garcia
0.16
Jun 2014 Jul 2014
 HaleH. Irwin Hale  Irwin
6 S. Ballesteros
0.25
Feb 1984 Mar 1984
 LannyL. Wadkins Lanny  Wadkins
6 C. Stadler
0.06
Feb 1985 Mar 1985
 RickieR. Fowler Rickie  Fowler
5 J. Spieth
0.1
Jan 2018 Feb 2018
 IanI. Woosnam Ian  Woosnam
4 C. Pavin
0.19
May 1991 Jun 1991
 HidekiH. Matsuyama Hideki  Matsuyama
3 J. Spieth
0.16
Aug 2017 Aug 2017
 JohnJ. Mahaffey John  Mahaffey
2 B. Langer
0.2
Mar 1986 Apr 1986
 MarkM. McCumber Mark  McCumber
2 G. Norman
0.09
Mar 1988 Apr 1988
 PaulP. Azinger Paul  Azinger
2 P. Stewart
0.08
Jul 1989 Jul 1989
 MattM. Kuchar Matt  Kuchar
2 S. Stricker
0.07
May 2014 May 2014
 HalH. Sutton Hal  Sutton
1 B. Langer
0.0
Jan 1986 Jan 1986
 CalvinC. Peete Calvin  Peete
1 S. Ballesteros
0.01
May 1986 May 1986
 AndyA. Bean Andy  Bean
1 C. Peete
0.0
May 1986 May 1986
 SandyS. Lyle Sandy  Lyle
1 B. Crenshaw
0.02
Apr 1988 Apr 1988
 CurtisC. Strange Curtis  Strange
1 P. Stewart
0.04
Jun 1989 Jun 1989
 ChipC. Beck Chip  Beck
1 P. Stewart
0.0
Jul 1989 Jul 1989
 IanI. Baker-Finch Ian  Baker-Finch
1 F. Couples
0.03
Jul 1991 Jul 1991
 PatrickP. Cantlay Patrick  Cantlay
1 J. Rahm
0.02
Aug 2019 Aug 2019
 XanderX. Schauffele Xander  Schauffele
1 J. Rahm
0.1
Oct 2020 Oct 2020