The Trials & Tribulations Of "World No. 1" Status

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With Stacy Lewis's win in Singapore, she's moving in on top ranked Yani Tseng, who lamented the "No. 1" pressure in an unbylined wire story.

"It's tough and it's very lonely," she said. "No one knows how do you feel. Everybody wants to be in your shoes, but no one knows how tough is that."

"The first year, when I was world No. 1, I feel good. But every month, everybody keeps building the expectations on me and that's lots of pressure."

And...

"World No. 1, I know it's good and people like it, but I want to care about myself more," she said. "If I lose (it), I'll get back one day, too."

Meanwhile Joe Posnanski writes about the "crippling" pressure created by a pesky algorithm putting a "1" next to your name.

These guys are pros, of course, and they train themselves to not think about any of this, to keep their thoughts positive and their visualizations clear … but it isn’t easy. And then, suddenly, a player is No. 1. And it all explodes. Every putt is world news. Reporters are everywhere. Everything you say is a headline, every opinion you offer (about golf or not) is analyzed and scrutinized. Expectations are insane – a bad round leads newscasts around the world. Whispers surround you. People invest hopes in you. It’s a lot to deal with. It’s hard to keep your bearings.

Call the Red Cross!

Anyway, this was fascinating...

Jack Nicklaus – who handled the No. 1 spot in the world better than anyone in golf history – said it best.

Today's trivia question readers, how many weeks did Jack Nicklaus spend in the World No. 1 spot?

Really, why do people take the golf rankings so seriously? I understand players wanting to get in the top 50 Club because of the perks that go along with it, but this is not tennis. Does the Official World Golf Ranking even come close to consistently telling us who is playing best in the world?