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On Monday morning, Justin Rose will wake up as the world’s No.1 ranked golfer once again.

Not a bad way to start Masters week.

Or is it?

History shows that, by climbing to the top of the standings, the odds are now heavily stacked against the Englishman winning at Augusta National.

• Could one of these guys break the rookie curse at Augusta?

• 7 huge names not yet qualified for The Masters

Only four times in the history of the Official World Golf Ranking has the incumbent world No.1 slipped into the Green Jacket.

Ian Woosnam was the first to do so in 1991, followed the next year by Fred Couples. Tiger Woods’ back-to-back wins in 2001 and 2002 are the only other two times the sitting top-ranked player has won The Masters.

Augusta National 16Th

In fact, the news isn’t particularly great if you’re in the top five on the OWGR next week.

Only 12 times in the 33-year history of the OWGR has a top-five player won the first men’s major championship of the season.

• Masters 2019 – How to watch for FREE on the BBC

• Masters 2019 – The field as it stands

Still, it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense to go looking outside the world’s top 50 for a prospective winner. On only two occasions since 1986 has the winner come from that deep into the rankings: in 2007, when world No.56 Zach Johnson won his first major; and in 2009, when Angel Cabrera, then ranked 69th, claimed the Green Jacket.

The average ranking of Masters champions in the OWGR era? No.15 – currently Tony Finau.


author headshot

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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