Lee Westwood has taken over the world No. 1 golf ranking, ending Tiger Woods' five-year reign atop the Official World Golf Rankings. Woods has held the spot for 281 consecutive weeks after grabbing No. 1 the week before the 2005 U.S. Open. For much of that time, his top ranking was hardly threatened, but struggles on and of the course this season put his ranking in jeopardy.
Phil Mickelson had opportunities to take the throne in 12 tournaments but failed to deliver when the pressure was on.
Martin Kaymer, arguably the world's best player right now, would have leapfrogged Westwood for the No. 1 spot had he finished in the top two at the Andalucia Masters in Spain. Instead, Kaymer finished outside of the top 20 and Westwood passes Woods despite a calf injury that has kept him outside the ropes since the Bridgestone Invitational in early August.
Westwood is the first European since Nick Faldo in 1994 to be No. 1, and only the 13th since the current ranking system began in 1986. Despite the injury, Westwood is coming off two strong seasons. He missed out on a playoff at the 2009 British Open by one shot, and finished runner up to Mickelson at the 2010 Masters and to Louis Oosthuizen at the British Open at St. Andrews.
But it's a tight gap at the top of the rankings. This week's HSBC Champions in Shanghai could result with Westwood, Woods, Kaymer or Mickelson at No. 1.
Woods has spent 623 total weeks atop the rankings, and this marks only the 10th time he has relinquished the spot. The longest streak he has not been No. 1 was 26 weeks at the end of the 2004 season and beginning of 2005 when Vijay Singh was the world's top-ranked golfer.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
But he will never, ever win a major. Tiger's got 14.
I GUESS I AM CURIOUS AS TO HOW PHIL COULD WIN THE MASTERS AND NOT BE RANKED AHEAD OF WESTWOOD HMM PHIL 4TH ON THE MONEY LIST? WESTWOOD WHERE?? PHIL HOW MANY WINS WESTWOOD?
Tiger Woods is nothing more than a marketing scheme.
If Tiger is a skirtchaser than he's in good company with Greg Norman and Bret Farve. And women in general hunt for the best genes and pot of gold. If I am lyin' I'm dyin'.
I have no ideal what criteria the PGA uses to get it stats but in all honesty how can you be rated nbr 1 when you have never won a major.....oh well....
I agree. However, isn't it just as ludicrous that this same system allowed Tiger to continue to be #1 after not winning for over a year?
Lucas Glover, Ben Curtis, Yang Yong-uen have all won majors maybe they should be #1 before Westwood. What a stupid take.
If you don't know how the rankings work how about researching it. Start by googling Official World Golf Rankings. If you're too lazy here it is in a nut shell. The rankings are a rolling period of the last two years. They are an average of points earned per event entered with the points being doubled for the current year. The majors are where you can earn the most points. Westwood in the last two years has 4 top five finishes in majors plus 5 combined wins on the PGA and European tours. And the idiots that don't think Tiger should have kept his #1 ranking as long as he did need to get a clue. It just goes to show you how dominant he was in the past. It also is a good barometer of how inferior his competition is.
To gushowie......The answer to your reply would be a big NO. If anyone should have taken Tiger's nbr 1 it should have been Phil. Let us just look at the logic. Phil three Majors. Lee......none. I rest my case.
I agree with you as well. The point that I was trying to make was that the system that allowed both TW to maintain and LW to ascend is messed up. I wish that Phil had been the one.
Phil had not one, not two, not three but EIGHT chances to take the number one spot. He failed. Don't blame the rankings.
The golf weirdos need to rethink the plan. A bunch of old f..ts who need to give way to the younger crowd to make the rules. Tiger Woods is the greatest and they cannot take that away from him no matter what the do or say.
hes a LOSER all the way around !!!!!!
The guy screwed him self, when he let little tiger out his pants. He married a white woman, cause he had to have one, his own kind ain't good enough for him. He created his own down fall, with all his extramarital distraction. Tiger, you're done, friend. Too Bad.
Are you serious? "His own kind" What a moron!
Tiger will be number one again!
way to go lee westwood!!! now it's not all about woods! finally we can get coverage on the other great golfers out there and forget the woods media events!!!!
We,re sick of Tiger, his baby name, i think his real name is Eldrick, if some of the worlds best over the last 10 years
would not have just fallen at his feet, he never would have gotten as arrogant as he did, his fall from grace i have seen before, but we all hoped for better from him, an incredible talent that stardom, and way too much
money destroyed.
Tiger may not be number 1. But he'll always be the LORD OF THE GREENS!!!
Someone may take over the #1 in golf,BUT NO ONE will be able to take over the #1 spot in male whoring!!!!
twogolfcats,
are you kidding? Guys like Wilt Chamberlain and Gene Simmons claim to have been with a combined 15,000 women.