Which ever method is used to determine who the greatest participants are in any sport, you'll nearly always find conflicting views.

Since the creation of the official world golf rankings in 1986, the number of tweaks, trims and complete overhauls that the mathematical calculations by which the golf rankings are calculated have been given speaks plenty about how the rankings remain to a lesser extent now a work in progress.

However, with the support of the PGA Tour and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club having used the Golf rankings almost since their inception as the method by which to select which players should receive invitations to the Open Championship, the Golf rankings are probably now the single most important measure of a player's ability.

Intriguingly, the number of US-based players in the world's top 100 has never been lower. Does this suggest a change of power in the global game or is it time for another tweak?

Individual tours produce their own money lists, detailing each year's biggest winners. The European Tour's Order of Merit award was renamed the Race to Dubai for 2009, while on the PGA Tour, the world's most important golf tour, the year's leading money-winner takes the Arnold Palmer Trophy.

Since 1996 the International Federation of PGA Tours has sanctioned a world money list, which is the total official money earned by a player on all member tours and is computed in United States dollars. In 2008 the winner was Spaniard Sergio Garcia.