Your new No. 1: Justin Rose becomes the 22nd golfer to be ranked best in the world

The Englishman is also the fourth from his own country to ascend to the top

By Kyle Porter

Sep 10, 2018 at 3:47 pm ET • 1 min read

Justin Rose didn't win the 2018 BMW Championship -- in fact, he lost in heartbreaking fashion during a sudden death playoff -- but he did achieve something maybe even bigger on Monday at Aronimink. Rose ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the Official World Golf Rankings and became just the 22nd golfer in history to do so. Rose took over the top spot from Dustin Johnson.

"That's an amazing achievement, something I'm extraordinarily proud of," Rose told Rogar Maltbie of Golf Channel. "... I'm delighted to be world No. 1. It's a boyhood dream."

On a course where he once won the AT&T National, Rose shot a 3-under 67 on Monday to get into a playoff with Keegan Bradley. He unfortunately bogeyed the 18th hole in regulation to fall into the playoff and then again in the first playoff hole to lose. He said it wasn't how he wanted to get to No. 1, but he was ecstatic regardless. Rose was this close to getting there with a victory.

Justin Rose ... for the win ... pic.twitter.com/eRYqLVnCgS
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 10, 2018

The top 10 was Rose's 20th worldwide since the start of last year's FedEx Cup Playoffs (so the last 13 months), and he has four wins in there as well. You can almost always argue between three or four guys, but Rose certainly has a strong case as the best golfer on the planet right now. The race at the top is incredibly tight and could certainly be affected by what happens at the Tour Championship in two weeks.

Current world top 10

Justin Rose: 10.14 points
Dustin Johnson: 10.09
Brooks Koepka: 10.09
Justin Thomas: 9.53
Francesco Molinari: 7.33
Rory McIlroy: 7.22
Jon Rahm: 7.17
Bryson DeChambeau: 6.98
Rickie Fowler: 6.77
Jordan Spieth: 6.49

Rose joins Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald among those from England to hold the top spot. Johnson, who has held the spot for 77 total weeks, is fifth all time in that statistic. Only Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Faldo have held the No. 1 ranking for longer.