The battle to become the best player in the world could be blown wide open this week at Pebble Beach with Phil Mickelson looking to overtake Tiger Woods while Lee Westwood can move within striking distance.
Westwood, the current World Number Three, can pass Mickelson and climb to World Number Two if he wins The 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach this weekend and the left-hander finishes outside the top three.
And should this happen and Woods misses the cut in California there will be very little separating the top three players in the world.
Woods has been World Number One for the last 262 weeks and for a total of 604 weeks in his career but Mickelson has closed the gap to just 0.55 average points. If Mickelson succeeds this week, he will become the new World Number One. He can still secure top spot by finishing runner-up on his own with Woods outside the top four. Outright third may be good enough should the current incumbent finish outside the top 18 and should Woods miss the cut, Mickelson needs a two-way tie for third place to become the 13th World Number One.
While European Number One, Westwood, cannot claim World Number One status this week, victory over the famous links at Pebble Beach could move him up to second in the world and a step closer to becoming the first European to achieve World Number One status since fellow Englishman Sir Nick Faldo in January 1994.
The other players who have had official World Number One status in the 24 year history of the Official World Golf Ranking are Bernhard Langer (3 weeks), Seve Ballesteros (61 weeks), Greg Norman (331 weeks), Nick Faldo (97 weeks), Ian Woosnam (50 weeks), Fred Couples (16 weeks), Nick Price (44 weeks), Tom Lehman (1 week), Ernie Els (9 weeks), David Duval (15 weeks) and Vijay Singh (32 weeks).
For World Ranking Points Available at the US Open, clickhere
