Following his fantastic win in the Abu Dhabi Championship last weekend, Martin Kaymer of Germany became the second player to overtake Tiger Woods in the World Golf Rankings.
The win earned Kaymer second place in the rankings behind England’s Lee Westwood, with Tiger relegated to third and a third European, Graeme McDowell, who was third behind Kaymer in Abu Dhabi, now at No. 4 in the rankings.
Kaymer, in fact, has won four of his last eight events, including his first "major" when he took the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits last September. He is now "hot on the heels" of Westwood and will hope to stay clear of Woods in the coming weeks.
Europe in fact has six players in the top 10, with Rory McIlroy moving up to seventh place after his runner-up spot to Kaymer in Abu Dhabi. Paul Casey is in ninth place, while Luke Donald is at No. 10, but he has yet to play this year thus far.
European golf has never looked so rich, with a Ryder Cup victory last year and two "majors" won by Kaymer and McDowell (U.S. Open), plus the consistency of Westwood, particularly in the "majors," earning him the top spot in the world.
American golfers, meanwhile, seem to be going backwards, with only Woods, Steve Stricker (5), Phil Mickelson (6) and Jim Furyk (8) left in the top 10 and only Matt Kuchar (13) and Dustin Johnson (16) making the top 20.
Mickelson, who has slipped to No. 6 in the world rankings and finished down the field behind Kaymer in Abu Dhabi, will be straight out again this week in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. It is a tournament that the left-hander has won three times in the past, but he will be joined by Woods, who has won this event six times and like Mickelson is a big fan of the Torrey Pines Golf Course.
Johnson will also be in the field, as will Nick Watney, winner here in 2009, and Ben Crane, who won last year.
The highest-ranking European at Torrey Pines this week is Justin Rose, who has already played twice this year, finishing in a tie for 12th place in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and tied for 13th in the Sony Open in Hawaii last week, results that have seen him climb up to No. 29 in the world.
Most of the Europeans, in fact, will be playing in the inaugural Volvo Golf Championship in Bahrain, although these will not include Westwood, Kaymer, McDowell or McIlroy, who are all resting this weekend. The favourite to win in Bahrain therefore is Casey, closely followed by Robert Karlsson of Sweden, Ian Poulter of England and Francesco Molinari of Italy.
As for Tiger Woods, his season has yet to start, but when it does, he has every incentive to up his game in an attempt to regain his title as the world's No. 1 golfer.
No comments:
Post a Comment