Lee Westwood has reached the world number three position for the first time in his career as he prepares for this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The Englishman has moved ahead of American Steve Stricker on the rankings and now has only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson ahead of him. The 37-year-old climbed to fourth back in 2001, but then suffered a nightmare slump and fell outside the top 250.
After signalling a return to form with two wins in 2003 he had to wait another four years for his next success, but last season regained the European money list title for the first time.
Westwood has yet to win a major crown, however. He missed play-offs by a single shot at the 2008 US Open and last year’s Open, finished third again in the US PGA Championship in August and at The Masters last month led after 36 and 54 holes, but was overtaken on the final day by Mickelson.
Another disappointment came eight days ago when he was out in front once again at The Players Championship in Florida, but slipped to fourth.
Meanwhile, Australian Adam Scott’s victory in the Texas Open last night lifts him up from 43rd to 36th, while Swede Peter Hanson is up to 45th thanks to his win in Majorca.
If Hanson stays in the top 50 for another week he will earn an exemption for next month’s US Open and avoid Monday’s qualifier at Walton Heath. Last year he made it through that by holing-in-one in a play-off.
Despite not playing this week, Graeme McDowell has moved up a spot to 50th and will be looking at securing his space inside the top 50 with a good showing at Wentworth this week.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:1 Tiger Woods 10.79pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 9.53, 3 Lee Westwood 7.71, 4 Steve Stricker 7.69, 5 Jim Furyk 6.93, 6 Ian Poulter 6.01, 7 Ernie Els 5.83, 8 Paul Casey 5.68, 9 Rory McIlroy5.37, 10 Anthony Kim 5.08, 11 Martin Kaymer 5.00, 12 Robert Allenby 4.78, 13 Padraig Harrington4.46, 14 Camilo Villegas 4.43, 15 Retief Goosen 4.16, 16 Geoff Ogilvy 4.09, 17 Hunter Mahan 4.03, 18 Luke Donald 3.97, 19 YE Yang 3.86, 20 Lucas Glover 3.85
Other leading Europeans:21 Henrik Stenson, 30 Sergio Garcia, 31 Alvaro Quiros, 33 Robert Karlsson, 35 Ross Fisher, 38 Edoardo Molinari, 39 Francesco Molinari, 40 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 45 Peter Hanson, 48 Oliver Wilson, 50 Graeme McDowell,53 Soren Hansen, 55 Soren Kjeldsen, 58 Anders Hansen, 67 Justin Rose, 69 Simon Dyson, 71 Ross McGowan, 75 Rhys Davies, 79 Alexander Noren, 83 Chris Wood, 84 Fredrik Jacobson, 86 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 95 Shane Lowry, 99 Gregory Bourdy.