How does the world ranking system work for golf?

Answer 1

The world ranking system is widely known as one of the most confusing systems in world sport. Basically, Golfers are awarded points for their performances in tournaments affiliated with the 6 major worldwide Tours (PGA Tour and European Tour etc), and occasionally some of the smaller developmental tours (Nationwide and Canadian Tour etc). The points are accumulated over a two year period, and are divided by the amount of events played, with a minimum number of 40 events being applied to all golfers. The points awarded for each event depend on the quality of the field, as well as the prestige of the event. For example, the winner of a PGA Tour event will get a minumum of 24 points, the winner of the Players Championship will get a minimum of 80 points and the winner of a Major championship gets a fixed amount of 100 points. The points from each tournament hold their full value for 13 weeks, after which they are reduced incrementally for the remainder of the two years. This helps show current performances.