How Long Can Lee Westwood Stay As The No1 Golfer?

How Long Can Lee Westwood Stay As The No1 Golfer

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In his first tournament as number one golfer in the world and having played only one tournament in three months due to his calf injury, Lee Westwood should be satisfied finishing one shot behind Francesco Molinari to take second position at the HSBC World Golf Championship in China. The battle for supremecy at the top of golf's rankings provided the backdrop for the tournament with Woods, PGA Champion Martin Kaymer and Masters champion Phil "Lefty" Mickelson all able to get to No 1. In fact If Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker had gone to China to play they would also have had a shot at the No 1 spot.

Although Lee never quite managed to catch Molinari who led throughout the tournament, he definitely consolidated his No1| position by playing the tournament in a sensible steady manner with great tactical play and kept the pressure on Molinari all through the tournament. Lee knew Molinari was on the top of his game but he played like a champion and kept himself there, ready to pounce if Molinari dropped back.

Neither Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer or Phil Mickelson were able to make a run at Westwood during the competition. In fact, Lee Westwood has kept his place at the top of the world golf rankings for the third straight week despite not playing for a couple of weeks. Former No.1 Tiger Woods remains at second position after finishing fourth at the Australian Masters. The only change in the top 10 was Graeme McDowell's move to ninth from 10th and Adam Scott moved from 41st to 20th after winning the Singapore Open.

There were a few sour grapes coming from Sir Nick Faldo, he has questioned whether "any player without a major title to his name could truly be rated the best in the world". Westwood now has two huge challenges: The first, to keep the No1 spot in the rankings, and Number two, his first majors win.

How long can he stay at the top?

It has been consistency that got Lee Westwood to the world No1 position and it has to be consistency that keeps him at No1 for any length of time. There is a lot is riding on Tiger Woods form, but from where I'm sitting, I believe we are seeing a Tiger Woods that nobody has seen before. The only question I would ask is, "Does Tiger want to be a machine again?". I think that Tiger is now being Tiger, he seems happier on the course (so far) since his return. When Tiger masters his new swing (third swing change???) we will see "who" we are dealing with, when we know who we are dealing with, we can start to talk about how long Lee Westwood or any other golfer can get to or stay at the number one position. Until then I am putting my money on Lee Westwood keeping that position for a while.

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