SI World Golf Rankings FAQ: What We Did, How We Did It and How We Think Our World Rankings Are a Step Forward for Professional Golf
Sports Illustrated launched the SI World Golf Rankings (SIWGR), which uses data from all tours and an improved formula from our partners at Golf Intelligence to calculate and rank the top players in men’s golf. (Our women’s golf ranking is coming soon.) We imagine you may have some questions about this new project, so we’ll attempt to answer them here. Have more questions? Hit us up on Twitter.
Why is SI starting its own World Golf Ranking?
We seek to create a ranking system that is reflection of player strength across the world of men's professional golf. The current Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), despite being updated last summer, remains controversial. We felt the time was right to innovate how the top players in pro golf are ranked. Rankings are and always will be ripe for debate, and we do not suggest the SIWGR is perfect – but we’re offering a fresh approach that we believe will add new perspective, data and analysis to the discussion.
What problem are you trying to fix?
We have focused on addressing a few fundamental flaws in OWGR, namely:
- OWGR’s too-long trail that includes tournament results going as far back as 24 months, whereas the SI rankings reflect the importance of measuring recent results over the most immediate 12 months. Our focus is on measuring and ranking the best players in the world right now.
- The OWGR did not include metrics or player performance from all pro tours, whereas the SI rankings leverage data and a proprietary formula that is inclusive of the competition across all tours.
We believe the SI rankings are more current, robust and comprehensive, and are a better reflection of the current state of pro golf competition. We concede that no ranking is perfect, and are humble enough to acknowledge that these rankings will continue to be updated and evolve. To that end, we are nimble, able to make modifications and adjustments that improve the product, and don't need the approval of multiple governing bodies who may have different self-interests.
The SI formula allows the data to do the work, with no preconceived biases toward tour status. Our model is built with more immediacy in the calculations – we use 12 months of player performance data instead of the OWGR’s 24. We also created a metric to measure performance across all tours. And along the way, we intend to incorporate full transparency and clarity in how we arrive at our results.
How is the SIWGR different from the OWGR?
We differ from the current system in many ways, and you can learn about our calculations here. A brief summary:
- The SIWGR uses 12 months of player data instead of the OWGR’s 24.
- To be even more attuned to a player’s current state of play, SIWGR places greater emphasis on a player’s most recent 4 months of results, with points depreciating for events older than 4 months and again for events older than 8 months.
- Players on all major men’s professional tours are eligible to earn points in the SIWGR.
- To adjust for the strength of field the SIWGR incorporates a new data point, Distance Per Shot (DPS), as an alternative to the OWGR’s Strokes Gained, as Strokes Gained is not used in all men’s professional tours.
A few other highlights:
Majors:
- The SIWGR provides more points for success in majors than any other events (similar to the OWGR).
- Each player who makes a cut is awarded a set number of SIWGR points for their finishing position.
- Data Table
Non-majors:
- SIWGR uses an equitable calculation that analyzes the Strength of Field (SOF) and allocates a number of SIWGR points for the event.
- SIWGR then uses a transparent percentage allocation for a player’s finishing position
- The OWGR’s allocation of event points is currently inconsistent
- The OWGR’s allocation of points for finishing position is also inconsistent
- Data Table
So, LIV golfers are included in these rankings?
Yes, LIV golfers will receive points in the SIWGR. In the current calculation, LIV players have received SIWGR points for the events they played in 2022 and they will continue to accrue points in 2023.
Is this ranking biased toward LIV?
No, we treat all tours the same way, using the same objective metrics to assign points. We aim to be fair, transparent and objective – to ignore one pro tour would be biased, and so would artificially boosting one tour’s points. We simply run the data and let the numbers speak for themselves. As you look at our initial top 100 list, you’ll see there are several LIV golfers who rank higher on our list than the current OWGR, while several other LIV players rank lower on the SIWGR compared to the OWGR. Similarly, some PGA Tour players are ranked differently than the current OWGR.
Also, it’s worth noting that the OWGR is chaired by Peter Dawson, the former Chief Executive of the R&A, and includes representatives from the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, the International Federation of PGA Tours, plus one rep from each of the four majors. The OWGR has said it received LIV Golf’s application for inclusion last July, but LIV golfers remain excluded from earning points for Liv Golf tournaments and remain in limbo as they slowly plummet in the OWGR, which will soon affect their eligibility to compete in some of the most prestigious events in the world, including the majors.
The SIWGR is independently operated and objectively administered by … us…leveraging objective data from all tours and ingested into Golf Intelligence, our partner on this project.
How often will SI Golf update its ranking?
There will be a fresh ranking out every Monday.
How is each golfer’s ranking calculated?
A summary:
- Players will be awarded SIWGR points based on how they finish in events
- The player’s overall SIWGR is the average of all points over the past 12 months
- Player’s points will be valued based on how recent the events are:
- For events 0-4 months old, players receive 100% of value
- For events 5-8 months old, players receive 70% of value
- For events 9-12 months old, players receive 40% of value
- The players ranking is the sum of all the points divided by the number of played events
Note: The SIWGR uses the same divisor method as OWGR for players but we use a minimum divisor of 20 events and a max of 27, as we’re only interested in the most recent 12 months of results, rather than the OWGR’s 24.
In non-majors:
- In events with a cut, all players who finish all four rounds will receive SIWGR points.
- In events without a cut, the top 75% of all finishers will receive ranking points.
- Percent Allocations
- 17.5% of an event’s points available to the winner
- 10% for second
- A sliding scale for the remaining players
You’re only using 12 months of data, and you reduce the point allocation after four months, and then again for events after 8 months. Won’t your rankings be extremely volatile?
The SI ranking may feature bigger changes from week to week compared to the OWGR, but that directly correlates to what we are trying to accomplish – a more current and better measurement and ranking of the best players in the world right now. We felt narrowing the data to 12 months of results and weighing the most recent four months above all else, helped us identify who is playing the best golf…now.
You aren’t using strokes gained and have instead used something called Distance Per Shot (DPS). What is that all about?
Distance Per Shot is a simplified strokes gained calculation invented by the statisticians at Golf Intelligence, our partners for the SIWGR project. Calculating DPS is easy: it’s the total yardage played divided by the total score. It’s a basic statistic that could in theory be used to rank all the golfers in the world. Strokes gained are only tracked on a select number of tours in the world as most tours lack the resources and technology to track strokes gained. DPS can be objectively tracked for all players.
How is DPS used to rank players?
DPS is a common denominator for all golfers and allows SI to rank all golfers together. The calculation is similar to the World Handicap System© (WHS) calculation, which uses a golfer’s best eight scores of the previous 20 scores posted. DPS uses the best 40% of the previous 20 scores. Broadly speaking, male professional golfers can average 100 DPS when they score 70 on a 7,000-yard course. Female professional golfers can average over 90 DPS when they score 70-ish for a 6,500-yard course. An amateur golfer’s DPS will vary from 40 to more than 100.
OWGR uses strokes gained as an additional calculation within its rankings. Here’s more on how we use DPS:
SIWGR will use Distance per Shot (DPS) instead of Strokes Gained (SG) to gauge a player’s ability.
- DPS is a simplified version of SG – DPS is quite simply, Distance played divided by final score
- DPS is a simple version of SG invented by Golf Intelligence
- Each player will have a Current DPS value (Distance Per Shot - yards or meters)
- A DPS value is obtained from the average of the best scores in the last 12 months (similar to the World Handicap System©)
- A max of 40 scores can be used: 40% of 40 is 16, so only the top 16 scores will be used for the calculation
- A min of 20 scores are needed: 40% of 20 is 8, so only the best 4 scores will be used if a player only has 20 scores
- If you do not have at least 20 scores in the last 12 months, your DPS will not be “Current” and this player will not have an affect on the SIWGR strength of field (SOF) calculation.
What is your Strength of Field (SOF) used for?
The SOF is used to allocate SIWGR points for the event. The SIWGR point allocation is then divided among the players finishing the event
How is the Strength of Field (SOF) calculated?
If the event has players ranked in the SIWGR top 100, the SOF is calculated by allocating points for each top-100 player:
- 9 points for a player ranked from 1-25
- 6 points for a player ranked from 26-50
- 3 points for a player ranked from 51-100
If there are no players ranked in the Top 100, then the SOF is calculated by using the DPS of the best 50 players in the field. The DPS for the best 50 players is added and totaled. The SOF DPS Table is used to determine the SI World Golf Ranking points available for the event.
Are women included in the SI World Golf Ranking?
Eventually, yes, all golfers will be included. We started with a men’s list because those rankings have been such a flashpoint of recent controversy.
For no-cut events, why does the SIWGR give points to the top 75% of players? Why not 50%? Or 60%?
You’re right: any number can be used. For our list, 75% of a no-cut field will earn SIWGR points. We felt the bigger flaws came when entire fields received ranking points just for showing up. So, 100% of the golfers in an event getting points was not equitable. We opted for 75%.
Why are 54-hole and 72-hole events not weighted differently?
This can be evaluated many ways, but we believe that both a 54- or 72-hole match is enough to qualify for rankings points. Some systems even require fewer holes, for example in match play, with just two players competing over 18 holes, 18 holes is seen as enough of a test to be considered a fair competition. For the 54- vs. 72-hole argument, we chose not to consider extended stamina as a key factor for pro tour golfers. In the NFL, when one team’s defense is on the field for 40 of the 60 minutes, stamina is a question. We believe that an 18-, 36-, 54- or 72-hole match is a fair enough competition for our ranking system, as long as the players know the number of holes at the start of the event, which of course they do.
Is DPS impacted by course difficulty? Why should we compare a player’s DPS value at a regular season PGA Tour venue and a DPS value at a highly difficult U.S. Open venue?
Yes. The World Handicap System© uses Course Ratings© to adjust for course difficulty. We do something similar, which we call a Course Adjustment. Every course in the world will be adjusted based on data. Our data partner, Golf Intelligence, has hundreds of millions of scores from golfers at every skill level, and that data will be used to create an “adjustment” for the course being played. So yes, shooting a 70 at, say, Winged Foot from forward tees at 7,000 yards, will positively affect a player’s DPS value much more than say, a 70 at a 7,000-yard local muni, even though they are the same scores from the same distance.
Does the Strength of Field (SOF) factor take care of this?
When there are SIWGR top 100 players in a tournament field, we do not use DPS as a factor in the Strength of Field. When you have players ranked in the top 100, SOF alone overrides the DPS. Like the current OWGR, this does make our calculations a bit slanted to the top 100 golfers.