sporting firsts

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first number 1 golfer in the soney rankings

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After a great measure of research, the first issue of the �Sony Ranking� was launched prior to the 1986 Masters Tournament, overseen by an International Advisory Committee chaired by Mark H McCormack, sanctioned by the Championship Committee of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, sponsored by the Sony Corporation and managed at IMG by Tony Greer. The first No.1 was Bernhard Langer, the defending Masters Champion, with No.2 Seve Ballesteros, who had already won four of his five Major titles, followed by No.3 Sandy Lyle, the current Open Champion who the previous week had won the Greater Greensbor Open. Tom Watson was at No.4, Mark O�Meara at No.5 and Greg Norman No.6. Although this meant that European players were in the first three positions - they had captured the Ryder Cup for the first time since 1957 the previous year - the United States players had considerable strength in depth with thirty one players in the Top-50.