Golf:Phil Mickelson has another chance to seize the world number one spot from Tiger Woods at this week's Scottish Open where second place along the banks of Loch Lomond will be enough to get the job done.
The Masters champion could topple Tiger Woods for the first time in his career providing there are no more notable withdrawals from the field.
Woods, whose only competitive golf this week is in the 36-hole JP McManus Pro-am at Adare Manor in Limerick today and tomorrow, opened the door to his rival by finishing a lowly 46th at the AT&T National where Justin Rose won by a single shot. Rose, who started the year down at 70th in the world, is up to 16th after his second victory in the States in five weeks.
Woods, with nothing better than fourth-place finishes at both The Masters and US Open as he tries to recover from the revelations about his private life that sent him into hiding and a rehabilitation clinic during the winter, has looked more vulnerable than at any time in his career.
The 34-year-old returns to the States after Adare rather then competing at Loch Lomond and next week the 14-time major winner will attempt to repeat his runaway victories of 2000 and 2005 in The British Open at St Andrews.
He has held top spot on the rankings uninterrupted since June 2005 and for an incredible 607 weeks in all. Mickelson has been his closest challenger for 253 of those weeks, but his Augusta triumph - the fourth major he has won - has brought him within firing distance.
Other opportunities have come and gone in the last two months, but the left-hander might never have a better chance than this week because most of Europe’s big guns are taking the week off to prepare for St Andrews.
“It would be something very special,” Mickelson said recently. “But to accomplish that I can’t focus on that - I still need to go out and play like the number one player in the world.”
The latest standings reveal Rory McIlroy moved up one spot to ninth after he finished fourth and narrowly missed out on a play-off in yesterday’s French Open where Miguel Angel Jimenez recorded his 17th tour win.
The Spaniard jumped 18 places to 32nd.
US Open champion Graeme McDowell remains 13th and, after taking a couple of weeks off to soak up the win, he returns to competitive action at this week’s Scottish Open immediately after the JP McManus Pro-am.
Pádraig Harrington, who defends his title at Adare Manor where 12 of the world’s top 15 are taking part, is the third Irishman inside the top world’s top 15.
Woods, who has previously lost top spot in the rankings to Ernie Els, Greg Norman, David Duval and Vijay Singh, was almost inevitably trying to take the positives out of his latest performance.
“I’m excited the way I drove the ball this week, really excited,” said Woods after failing to break par in all four rounds and finishing 14 shots behind winner Justin Rose. “I felt like I drove it on a string all week.
“I’ve driven the ball better this week than I have in a very long time and I hit driver as many times as I possibly could because it felt so good. That hasn’t been the case lately.
“Unfortunately my iron game wasn’t as sharp as it could be and certainly I putted awful all week.
“I can’t wait to get over there (to Scotland). I’m looking forward to getting my lines, my feels, my numbers over there again. I love playing the golf course.
“I’ve just always loved playing there. That was my first Open Championship. My first introduction to links golf was in ‘95 - I got to play Carnoustie in the Scottish (Open) and St Andrews.
“A hell of an introduction. It doesn’t get any better than that. I fell in love with the golf course the first time I played it.
“People think it’s so wide open, but it’s not because in order to get to a lot of the flags you have to put the ball in the correct spot.
“If you keep firing left and the pins are tucked you’re going to have 50, 60, 80-foot putts all day. It’s just an amazing, amazing test of positioning your golf ball.
“Faldo has won there. You don’t have to hit the ball long. It’s just about putting the ball in the correct spots.”
Latest World rankings
(US unless stated, Irish in
boldlast week's positions in brackets)
1. (1) Tiger Woods 10.35 average points
2. (2) Phil Mickelson 9.62
3. (3) Lee Westwood (England) 8.04
4. (4) Steve Stricker 7.03
5. (5) Jim Furyk 6.82
6. (6) Ernie Els (South Africa) 5.97
7. (7) Luke Donald (England) 5.51
8. (8) Ian Poulter (England) 5.44
9. (10) Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 5.31
10. (9) Paul Casey (England) 5.20
11. (12) Anthony Kim 4.90
12. (11) Martin Kaymer (Germany) 4.89
13. (13) Graeme McDowell (N Ireland) 4.87
14. (14) Robert Allenby (Australia) 4.42
15. (15) Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 4.21
16. (35) Justin Rose (England) 4.06
17. (16) Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 4.03
18. (17) Retief Goosen (South Africa) 3.96
19. (18) Zach Johnson 3.92
20. (20) Tim Clark (South Africa) 3.74