 Westwood moved above Steve Stricker into third in the rankings |
Lee Westwood has moved into the top three in the world rankings for the first time in his career. The 37-year-old Worksop player is now only behind Phil Mickelson and world number one Tiger Woods. Westwood was as high as fourth back in 2001 before a slump that resulted in him slipping outside the top 250. Two more Englishmen, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey, are ranked sixth and eighth respectively, while Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is ninth. The Republic of Ireland's Padraig Harrington is 13th, while Englishman Luke Donald is 18th.  | 606: DEBATE |
Westwood won the 2000 European Order of Merit before losing his way after 2001. He returned to form with two wins in 2003 but had to wait another four years for his next success, while two more victories in 2009 helped him top the European standings for the second time. Westwood has yet to win a major, missing the play-offs by a single shot at the 2008 US Open and last year's Open. He finished third in the USPGA in August 2009 and at the Masters in April he led after 36 and 54 holes but was overtaken on the final day by Mickelson. Another disappointment came a week ago when he was out in front once again at The Players Championship in Florida but slipped to fourth.
World 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 McIlroy 5.37
10 Anthony Kim 5.08 Selected others: 13 Padraig Harrington 4.46
18 Luke Donald 3.97
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