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Woods on top of the world

ESPN staff
December 20, 2013
As of December 12, Tiger Woods has been a world number one for a total of 661 weeks © AP
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Tiger Woods recently returned to the top of the golf rankings. Has he been No. 1 more than anyone else? And who had the shortest spell at the top? asked Donald Griffin

Tiger Woods glided back to the top of the world golf rankings at the end of March 2013, supplanting Rory McIlroy who had been there for the previous 32 weeks.

In all, Woods has now been top for 661 weeks (as of December 12), or well over 12 years, which is indeed a record. He's about to double the tally of the next man, Greg Norman, who was ranked No. 1 for 331 weeks.

Only 16 men have topped the list since the rankings were introduced in April 1986 with Bernhard Langer at No. 1 - he stayed there for just three weeks, and never returned to the top.

But there is a one-hit wonder - the American Tom Lehman, the 1996 Open champion, was top for just one week in April 1997.

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