Monday Backspin: Westwood's time at No. 1 could be short

text size

OK. It's official. Tiger Woods is no longer the No. 1 player in the world.

Considering the drama of the last 12 months, the changing of the guard was pretty anticlimactic, don't you think?

Only one of the two candidates with a chance to unseat Woods even played golf last week -- and Martin Kaymer missed his opportunity to unseat Woods when he tied for 21st at the Andalucia Masters on Sunday. A win or second-place finish there would have put the young German on top.

Instead, the champagne was flowing in Worksop, England at Lee Westwood's home on Sunday. The Englishman has been sidelined by a pulled calf muscle for the better part of three weeks and has only played twice since he finished second at the British Open in July. That hardly spoiled his ascent to the top, though.

Westwood is the fifth player to have taken the No. 1 spot from Tiger Woods during his 623 weeks at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. Vijay Singh was the last -- and he did it three times before Woods embarked on the most recent streak that ended at 281 weeks.

Kaymer has actually been the more productive player over the last two years. The talented German, who now ranks third in the world, has won six times during that span, including four times this year, one of which was the PGA Championship.

During the same stretch, Westwood has just two European Tour victories and one on the PGA TOUR, at this year's St. Jude Classic presented by Smith & Nephew. He has padded his ranking points, though, with an impressive array of four finishes of third or better in the last eight majors.

It's an impressive climb for Westwood, who was mired in such a deep slump he ranked 266th in the world a mere seven years ago. He is the first to compete predominantly on the European Tour to become the top-ranked player since Woods first showed up on top on June 15, 1997.

Of course, this new world order may be short-lived. Westwood, Kaymer and Woods are all competing this week at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Oh, and Phil Mickelson, now ranked fourth in the world, could take over No. 1 with a win in China, too.

Woods, winless in 2010, has been working on his new swing with Sean Foley and getting used to his life as a divorced father. Don't expect anything less than his best when he returns to competition this week.

Stay tuned.

THE BACK NINE: 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. It was masked because he only won once, but Jamie Lovemark had one of the best seasons in Nationwide Tour history. He's already shown that he has the game to compete on the PGA TOUR, and he showed no weaknesses in his game over the course of his lone season on the Nationwide Tour. He won't be back.

2. The buzz was still around Jonathan Byrd early in the week after he aced the 17th hole in a playoff to win the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Funny story: He mentioned to his wife that it might be a good idea to skip the season-ending Children's Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World, but that idea was quickly shot down. According to Byrd, she said, "Are you kidding me? We've already told the kids we're going to Disney World, are you going to be the one that tells them we're not going now?"

3. It is sometimes said that the Champions Tour is the toughest tour to earn playing privileges on in the world. The brutal competition makes it almost impossible for a Monday qualifier to break though (I mean, would you want to play Bernhard Langer or Fred Couples?). So it was surprising Sunday when 55-year-old Canadian Rod Spittle beat Jeff Sluman in a playoff to win the AT&T Championship. He was the first Monday qualifier to win on the over-50 Tour in six years.

4. It was easy to assume Kenny Perry would make a huge splash on the Champions Tour, but for the second week in a row, it didn't happen. Perry double-bogeyed his third hole of the AT&T Championship and never got going. In his six Champions Tour rounds, he has six double bogeys. Hey, it happens. Couples has four consecutive Champions Tour tournaments with a double bogey on the card.

5. Ben Crane's victory in the CIMB Asia Pacific came just 15 days after he uploaded a hilarious video of himself pretending to work out. The best part of the video? It wasn't the "working out" part -- it was Crane bombing a putt off the flagstick from 12 feet away. Wonder how many takes that took?

6. It has been a maddening season on TOUR for Luke Donald, who lost the lead Sunday in Malaysia when he triple-bogeyed the ninth hole. Donald has just three wins on the European Tour and two on the PGA TOUR, but if he starts striking the ball just a tad better, he could make a Lee Westwood-style run in the big events. His short game is that good.

7. Jhonattan Vegas is the first player from Venezuela to earn a PGA TOUR card. The 26-year-old cruised through the Nationwide Tour, winning once and also winning over the galleries with his upbeat attitude. He's a big guy, too -- listed at 6-foot-2 and well over 200 pounds. He doesn't hit the ball 265 yards off the tee.

8. Ryuji Imada shot a 97 in an exhibition last week in China. He didn't struggle -- he shot a 71 in the final round of pro-celebrity Star Trophy at Mission Hills -- but he violated the local lift, clean and place rule. By the time playing partner Danny Lee noticed it, Imada has racked up 13 violations at two shots a pop.

9. A PGA TOUR card has been painfully elusive for James Hahn. The 28-year-old double bogeyed the final hole of q-school last year to miss getting his PGA TOUR card by a shot. On Sunday, he shot 77 in the final round of the Nationwide Tour Championship to fall from a projected 15th in points all the way back to 29th. If there is any good news, it's that he's exempt into the final stage of q-school this year.

9a. Gary Player turns 75 on Monday. And he's still in better shape than you are. -- Ryan Smithson, PGATOUR.COM SIte Producer

The Forward Spin

World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions: The final World Golf Championship of the year is set to kick off at Sheshan in Shanghai. Phil Mickelson held off Ernie Els by a shot in 2009, the tournament first year under the World Golf Championship banner. The relatively-short 7,143-yard layout leads to plenty of birdies, especially at the birdie-centric 538-yard par-5 18th.

Preview next week's Kodak Challenge hole

HOLE: The par-4 485-yard 17th at Magnolia Golf Club NEXT WEEK: "The most dangerous hole on the course: Tee shot over water, then a long mid-iron to a well-protected narrow green. Give me a 4 here and I'll run to 18!" -- Lanny Wadkins Click here to tour the Kodak Challenge holes | Current Kodak Challenge standings