Gillette won’t renew contract with Woods

Photo by Associated Press

Tiger Woods participates in a promotion for the Gillette Fusion Power Gamer razor during the Gillette-EA Sports Champions of Gaming Finals in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 3, 2009.

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Procter & Gamble Co. says it will not renew its endorsement deal with golfer Tiger?Woods after the end of the year.

The company used Woods and dozens of other athletes as part of its three-year “Gillette Champions” marketing program. Gillette said Thursday that it is phasing out that program and in turn, not renewing the contract with Woods and several other athletes.

The golfer was once the most sought-after pitchman in sports and was the first athlete to earn $1 billion from endorsement agreements. However, many corporations cut ties or distanced themselves from Woods after revelations of marital infidelities that dominated headlines for months.

Accenture LLP, AT&T Inc. and Gatorade all dropped Woods in the weeks following the news. Companies such as Gillette and Tag Heuer didn’t end their relationships outright but stopped featuring him in advertisements. Nike Inc. and other companies that had more invested in his skills as a golfer stuck with him.

The company is also letting its contracts with other athletes, including soccer players such as Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi and Ricardo Kaka, end as part of the conclusion of the marketing program.

Gillette, however, is keeping some of the athletes from the program – such as New York Yankees Derek Jeter, tennis star Roger Federer and hockey player Alexander Ovechkin – for new local marketing campaigns.

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Woods gets cortisone shot for ankle soreness

ORLANDO, Fla. – Tiger Woods had a cortisone shot in his right ankle 10 days ago to relieve lingering soreness. By Tuesday, he was back to work hitting balls and filming a commercial.

Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said Woods had intended all along to have the shot after the Chevron World Challenge, which ended Dec. 5. Woods has nearly two months off before his next tournament at Torrey Pines.

“This was always the plan,” Steinberg said. “He’s looking at 2011 as a big year for him.”

At this year’s Masters, Woods revealed he ruptured the Achilles’ tendon in his right leg in December 2008 while recovering from knee surgery. Steinberg says it still causes soreness, prompting the cortisone shot.

Steinberg spoke in response to Internet chatter that Woods had torn his Achilles while skiing. He said Woods has not skied in more than three years.

Woods posted two tweets Tuesday of photos from his EA Sports shoot at Isleworth, referring to one as a “tough day at the office.”

Woods is coming off the first winless season of his career, although he showed strong signs of turning his game around at the Chevron World Challenge. He lost a four-shot lead on the final day and was beaten by U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell in a playoff.

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McDowell outduels Woods in Chevron playoff

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Tiger Woods delivered a vintage moment, dropping an 8-iron from the sky on the final hole Sunday inside 3 feet for what looked to be a sure victory.

Just not this year.

The clutch shots and happy endings belonged to U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.

McDowell capped off his greatest season with the biggest comeback ever against Woods. He rallied from a four-shot deficit in the Chevron World Challenge, then upstaged Woods at his own tournament.

McDowell holed a 20-foot birdie putt to force a playoff, then beat Woods on the first extra hole with another birdie from a little bit longer.

“They’re the kind of putts that you make them, and you can’t really believe it afterwards,” McDowell said. “They were the stuff of dreams – 2010 has been the stuff of dreams. It’s been that kind of year.”

Woods might have known what to expect, considering how his year has gone.

Without a trophy for the first time since he can remember, Woods appeared ready to embark on a new chapter after a year of personal turmoil and shocking scores. A four-shot lead turned into a two-shot deficit. He rallied to tie McDowell, then watched the U.S. Open champion deliver the winning shots.

It was the first time Woods has lost a tournament when leading by at least three shots going into the final round.

And it was the first time anyone could recall Woods feeling good after a loss.

“It was a great week, even though I didn’t win,” Woods said. “I’m proud of today, even though I lost.”

Woods lost his big lead with a pair of three-putt bogeys, imploded with a double bogey on the par-5 13th to see his one-shot lead turn into a two-shot deficit, then got new life when McDowell made a couple of mistakes down the stretch.

McDowell won with two birdies on the 18th, but he might have won the tournament with a bogey. With a one-shot lead on the par-3 17th, he pulled his 8-iron into grass so high that he took a penalty drop on the 18th tee and pitched over the trees to 7 feet. Woods missed his birdie putt, and McDowell made his putt to stay even with Woods going to the final hole.

It was only the fourth time in 15 years that Woods has lost in a playoff.

But he had reason to look ahead to next year with growing confidence. After making a mess of his life off the course that ended in divorce, and rebuilding his swing for the fourth time, for the first time all year he looked like a No. 1 player.

In contention for the first time, however, old swing flaws crept into his game under the pressure of trying to win. Woods figured he did well to steady himself for the final few holes, and he did everything right except make a 15-foot putt to extend the playoff.

“The way I’m playing right now, yeah, I would like to continue playing,” Woods said. “Even though I lost and made countless mistakes in the middle part of the round, it said a lot for me to come back and put my swing back together again.”

It was great theater. And for the first time all year, Woods was part of the act.

“He used to appear invincible,” McDowell said. “Of course, he’s made himself appear more human in the last 12 months. But there’s something a bit special about his golf game, and I fully expect that mystique to return as the golf clubs start doing the talking again.”

McDowell closed with a 69, while Woods shot a 73 to match him at 16-under 272. They were four shots clear of Paul Casey, who had had a 69 to finish alone in third.

“We had a good battle out there,” Woods said.

Woods was shaky early on with the putter to quickly lose his four-shot cushion, but he didn’t fall out of the lead until the 13th.

He took his hand off the club on a poor tee shot that went into the left rough, forcing him to lay up. Then came another poor swing, again letting the club fall from his hands, as his wedge sailed over the green. He chipped through the green, chipped back 6 feet long and missed the putt to make double bogey.

McDowell reached the green in two for a birdie, which was a massive three-shot swing. It was the first time Woods trailed in the tournament since the 13th hole of the opening round, a stretch of 54 holes.

Woods probably should have lost the lead earlier.

He holed a tough, downhill putt from 8 feet for par on the sixth to stay one ahead. And on the par-3 eighth, after a flop shop from deep rough sailed 15 feet onto the fringe, Woods again made a key par putt to keep the lead.

Woods was grinding to keep his game together, which was not unusual considering it had been one year and 20 days since he last played in the final round of a tournament with the lead. He never got it back, thanks to the clutch putting from McDowell.

A year ago, McDowell was a last-minute alternate to this tournament when Woods’ personal life began to collapse. He finished second and earned enough world ranking points that he eventually got into the U.S. Open, which he won at Pebble Beach.

At a party Saturday night, McDowell asked tournament director Greg McLaughlin if he could at least try to win the tournament. Woods and a four-shot lead used to be a given. Upon seeing McLaughlin after winning, McDowell joking apologized.

It may have ruined a good story for Woods.

It capped a dream season for McDowell, who won $1.2 million and moved up to No. 7 in the world.

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Woods extends Chevron Challenge lead to 4

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Tiger Woods is starting to look like his old self at the Chevron World Challenge.

Woods got off to a blazing start Friday and a solid putting stroke enabled him to play bogey-free in the second round for a 6-under 66 that gave him a four-shot lead going into the weekend of his final tournament this year.

Woods was at 13-under 131, his best 36-hole score this year by six shots. And the four-shot lead over U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell had to be a refreshing change for a guy who has been at least nine shots back through 36 holes in seven tournaments this year.

“I’ve been here before, so it’s not a strange feeling,” Woods said. “It’s just one of those things where tomorrow is the same game plan, just go out there and plot my way along and take care of the par 5s.”

He did that again on a pleasant day in the Conejo Valley, and now has played the five par 5s at Sherwood Country Club in 10 under through two rounds. That included an eagle on the second hole, and perhaps Woods’ most impressive shot of the day, if not the year. He hit a 4-iron from a hanging lie so severe that it caused Woods to stumble down the hill after impact.

The ball landed 8 feet away to the right of the pin.

And on the next hole, when Woods made a superb par save with a putter through a swale to about 3 feet, caddie Steve Williams walked off the green and said, “The tide is turning.”

McDowell keeps plugging away in his sixth straight week of competition, playing well enough to keep pace except for a few mistakes. He took a double bogey on the ninth hole, and failed to save par from a bunker on the 18th.

He was at 9-under 135, and will be paired with Woods in the final group Saturday.

“Sometimes in a four-round tournament, you get a round where you don’t really play your best,” McDowell said. “To shoot 3 under and not play my best, I’m pretty happy with that.”

Rory McIlroy played with Woods for the first time in competition – the Skins Game at the Memorial doesn’t count – and was impressed with what he saw. McIlroy caught flak at the Ryder Cup for saying he would love to play Woods if his game didn’t improve, although he doesn’t regret what he said – even Woods would agree with the “if his game didn’t improve” part – and both played well.

McIlroy only fell apart at the end.

He hit 5-wood on the par-5 16th that covered the flag and just went over the back of the green. On firm turf, however, he hit a thin chip some 20 feet away, narrowly missed the birdie putt, then watched his 2 1/2-foot par putt circle the cup and stay out.

On the 18th, McIlroy hit 7-iron over the green, chipped long off the back of the green and had to two-putt from 35 feet for a double bogey that gave him a 70.

The real excitement came from everyone behind them.

Paul Casey made a hole-in-one on the 12th hole, which carried him to a 7-under 65. Bubba Watson made the rarest shot in golf – an albatross – when he holed out his second shot on the par-5 16th. That was the difference in his 69, although he was still 14 shots behind.

Anthony Kim also made a nice recovery, chuckling at a report on a golf blog that he might have another injury after opening with a 79.

“It’s as good as ever,” Kim said after a 66.

Woods still has two rounds to show true signs that he is on his way back, and he has kept it simple at Sherwood – attack the par 5s and limit the mistakes.

As if often the case with anyone at any tournament, however, the putting stood out the most.

Not only did he made some key par saves and two good birdie putts inside 12 feet in his great start – he one-putted the first four holes and two-putted for birdie on the fifth – he constantly ran the ball some 3 to 4 feet beyond the hole.

Woods attributed that to having too many putts above the hole, although there was a confident look to his putting that had been missing for so much of the year. He no longer looked concerned by facing those par putts, and it showed. Seven times, he ran a birdie putt at least 3 feet by the hole and made them all.

“I hit a lot of pure putts,” Woods said. “I wasn’t quite as sharp as yesterday, but I was able to piece it together and figure out how to hit better shots when I was struggling a little bit. I hit a couple loose shots and all of a sudden, ‘OK, this is what I need to do to fix it.’ And I fixed it. So that was nice.”

Still, he missed only two greens in regulation, and the closest he came to bogey was on the final hole when he ran his birdie attempt some 5 feet by the hole. He made that for a bogey-free round, a rarity this year.

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Woods leads Chevron after opening 65

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Certainly, it wasn’t like the salad days of majors and walkovers that ushered in this century, but in a small way it felt like the good old days.

Though there was plenty of golf still on the course, fans were seen headed for the gates because Tiger Woods was done for the day. To them, the show was over.

OK, first disclaimer: “Plenty of golf still on the course” means just six players were still touring the last few holes at Sherwood Country Club, but hey, that’s a third of the field here at the Chevron World Challenge.

Oh, and a second disclaimer: We recognize that it’s a silly-seson event, meaningless perhaps for 17 of the 18 who are assembled here, but not for Woods. To him, this tournament carries great significance – not just because for the first time he’s able to play for his Chevron sponsors and not just because the charitable funds benefit his Tiger Woods Foundation. No, the importance of his first-round 65 that provided a one-stroke lead over that likeable entry from Northern Ireland, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, rests within the mind.

“A tournament like this at the very end of the year, if you play well, it does give you a shot of confidence,” Woods said after a performance that incuded 16 greens and birdies on each of the five par 5s.

Now there was a time when Woods overflowed with confidence – like Gates with cash or Trump with ego. Then came . . . well, Thanksgiving 2009 and a year’s worth of fallout that touched all parts of his life. While he worked hard to keep much of the wounds private, there was nothing he could do about the golf. It was out front for public consumption and in so many ways it wasn’t pretty.

The fact that he went winless for the first time in a PGA Tour season? Yes, it bothers him, but what truly stung is the way in which his golf ball went so off line at so many times. When finally in August he made the leap to trust his swing to Sean Foley, he insists he embraced a key component to the transition.

“I was putting togther streaks of holes earlier,” he said. “Two, three, four, five – and then I’d lose it for a little bit. Eventually I needed to get to a full round and then eventually a full tournament and today was a full round. So that’s a good start.”

And a rare one, too, because in this upside-down season, Woods played 14 tournaments and 53 rounds (and that includes the Australian Masters) and had the lead at the end of the day just once.

Repeat, once.

Not exactly positive stuff from the greatest front-runner in the history of golf, but now that he’s gone into the lead for a second time in 2010, he’s excited to see what happens.

“Most of the year, if I did get something going, I’d make some kind of mistake,” Woods said, and that was the case back in August when after opening with a 7 under 65 to lead the Barclays and pushing to 8 under on his first nine in Round 2, he bogeyed four times coming home then made a triple-bogey to start his third round.

Another tournament was kissed goodbye.

Now even if that scenario were to repeat itself here, Woods insists he’s happy with the progress he’s making with Foley. No, things aren’t perfect. “It’s not totally natural yet,” he said of the swing, but he’s committed to their collaboration.

For all of those reasons, Woods appeared to be having the most fun on the first day of an event that might appear casual – at least until you look at the purse. It’s a very serious sum, $5 million, and while Woods has the inside track on the top prize of $1.2 million, Anthony Kim seemed intent on taking the last-place $140,000 crumbs.

Going through the motions to the tune of 79, Kim made just one birdie and seemed no closer to finding an answer to his puzzling game. Ranked 19th in the world when invitations to the Chevron World Challenge were mailed out Sept. 20, Kim is still at 26, though playing like No. 260.

No worries, perhaps, since it’s a festival of fun, a rich party to celebrate a season well played, and that explains why so many had smiles. None as wide as Woods, of course, although Nick Watney came close.

“I wasn’t in this tournament on Saturday,” he said, “so I’m thrilled to be here and to have shot even par.”

Only a few weeks ago, Watney got married and honeymooned on the other side of the world. First in Shanghai where he played four rounds in the HSBC Champions, then in Bora Bora with his wife, Amber.

“I’m not so sure she liked getting on the plane for a 12-hour ride to China,” Watney said. But, yes, Bora Bora made up for that.

? ? ?

Extensive travel also was required by McDowell, McIlroy, Luke Donald, and Ian Poulter just to get here, the four of them having played last week at the European Tour finale in Dubai. They are globe-trotters, each of them, but proving he’s getting wiser by the day, 21-year-old McIlroy made the trip even more worthwhile by mixing business with pleasure – he stopped by a nearby Oakley office to sample the products he’s entitled to thanks to a new business partnership.

“A two-year deal,” McIlroy said.

Presuming that it meant 2011 and 2012, curious reporters suggested McIlroy was jumping in a bit early, wearing Oakley sunglasses and the company logo on his shirt and pants. He smiled and conceded that it might be construed a two-year-and-one-month deal, but he had to break them in.

? ? ?

Storylines being thin this time of year, McIlroy and Oakley qualified as news, and so, too, did a caddie shuffle of sorts. Sean O’Hair has split with veteran bagman Paul Tesori, though Tesori is here this week working for Camilo Villegas. That’s because Villegas’ caddie, Brett Waldman, is at the final stage of Q School. As for O’Hair, he has teamed with Brennan Little, Mike Weir’s longtime caddie, but it makes sense because the Canadian is on the sidelines nursing an elbow injury.

Going forward into 2011, O’Hair said he wasn’t sure what he’d do. Being friends with Weir, “I would never get in the way,” O’Hair said, and a serious option is his father-in-law, Steve Lucas, who caddied for him for years.

“We’ve talked about it,” O’Hair said.

There will, of course, be more time to talk, because what sits on the horizon is the off-season. Then again, “off-season” is a matter of perspective, because while a good many players will start next season in less than a month, whether it be Jan. 5 in Maui or Jan. 12 in Honolulu, Woods figures to have seven weeks off, assuming he’ll start the next season at Torrey Pines Jan. 27.

To help ease his winter hibernation, Woods would love to store up the confidence, and a 65 surely has him pointed in the right direction.

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Woods searches for first win in 2010 finale

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The goal for Tiger Woods has always been to be better than he was the year before. Despite losing his marriage and every tournament he played, he still gave himself a passing grade.

“As a golfer, I learned so much more this year than any other year – and as a person, infinitely more,” Woods said Tuesday. “So it’s been a very successful year, even though it was a very painful year, as well.”

That year comes to a close with the Chevron World Challenge, which starts Thursday featuring an 18-man field of players inside the top 50 in the world ranking. Woods has won the last two times he played, although he missed the last two years – in 2008 while recovering from knee surgery, and last year because of the Thanksgiving night accident that led to revelations of his infidelity.

It was a year that Woods described as “harder than anyone could have imagined.”

On Tuesday of tournament week a year ago, the Florida Highway Patrol cited him for reckless driving and fined him $164 for running his SUV over a fire hydrant and into a tree outside his home, while a magazine had a cover story from a cocktail waitress who said she had 300 text messages to prove her 31-month affair with Woods.

His personal life was just starting to unravel.

Woods said he never thought about walking away from golf for the entire year, shooting down speculation in a book that he would enlist in the Navy. Woods said as a kid, he either wanted to be a pro golfer or a Navy SEAL.

“I love playing the game of golf,” Woods said. “It’s fun, it’s certainly challenging, and it’s also something that I know when I do it right, I’m pretty good at it.”

That was not lost on Ian Poulter as he hit balls on the range Tuesday morning and talked about the world ranking, amazed that Woods has lost more ranking points than any player has earned this year.

Poulter recalled a time not long ago when the distance between Woods and whoever was No. 2 in the world was greater than No. 2 and the player ranked 100th or lower.

“It shows how good,” Poulter said, pausing. It sounded as though he was ready to say “how good he was,” but the Englishman caught himself, because he believes Woods will return. “It shows how good he can be when he’s at his best.”

Can he get it back?

“I think it’s in him even more,” Poulter said.

Woods talked about the need to change his personal life and his golf swing, but he never explained until Tuesday why he had to change a swing that had brought him 31 tour victories, including six majors, under Hank Haney.

“As I played throughout the summer, I kept trying to do the things that I was working on with Hank over the years, and it just wasn’t working anymore, and it got to a point where I just couldn’t do it,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to try and play tournament level golf, major championship golf especially, when at the time I was struggling with which way the ball was going to go. That’s not fun.”

Why wasn’t it working?

“For some reason, it just wasn’t,” he said. “And it was time to go a different route.”

Woods is back to work this week, although only he knows to what degree his life is back to normal. He had a board meeting with the Tiger Woods Foundation on Monday night – Woods picked up the tab for dinner – and more meetings as the host of this tournament on Tuesday before a press conference and some work on the practice range.

He no longer is grilled about his personal life, including his divorce in August.

Instead, the focus has shifted back to his golf game, and there hasn’t been much to report on that front. Woods went without a win on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career. He lost his No. 1 ranking for the first time in five years to Lee Westwood of England.

The Chevron World Challenge does not count as official on the PGA Tour, although it does offer world ranking points, and Woods mathematically will have a chance to get back to No. 1 this week with a victory. That seems unlikely given his recent form.

Woods was asked why he hadn’t won this year, whether it was mechanical or mental, long game or short game.

“All of the above,” Woods said. “I think I’ve dealt with a few things off the golf course, and on the golf course I’ve had to make some changes in my game. You combine all that together, it’s very hard to be efficient for 72 straight holes.”

He has shown flashes – 7 under over his last seven holes in a Ryder Cup singles match, 6 under in his last six holes in Australia.

Still, this year goes down as an anomaly with Woods. No majors. No wins. And a career-worst 68th on the money list.

“It’s been difficult, but also it’s been very rewarding at the same time,” Woods said. “It forced me to look deeper into myself and ... how I grew up and how those things didn’t match with the person who I am, and getting back to that, getting back to how my parents raised me. It’s been good. I’m very excited about the future because of that.”

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Woods: Headed in right direction under Foley

Photo by Associated Press

Caddie Steve Williams and Tiger Woods during the pro-am for the Australian Masters.

MELBOURNE, Australia – Tiger Woods faces his first full year without a victory if he doesn’t defend this title this week in the Australian Masters. Whatever happens, he has no doubt his game is going in the right direction.

“If it happens, it happens,” Woods said Wednesday after seeing Victoria Golf Club for the first time. “I’m going to give it my best. But that doesn’t change my commitment to getting better.”

He won last year at Kingston Heath to wrap a week like no other in Melbourne, which featured record crowds that topped 100,000 over four rounds. It was his 82nd career victory, and he was No. 1 in the world with no argument.

Just over a week later, however, Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant and revelations began to unfold about his extramarital affairs, which shattered his image and rocked his world on and off the golf course.

Woods is not looking at his return Down Under as a chance to come full circle. It was in Australia when a supermarket tabloid first linked him to a New York nightclub hostess. And it was in Australia where he last looked like such a daunting figure in the sport.

“I’m here to defend a title,” Woods said. “I’m playing a great golf course and a great field. That’s the way I look at.”

Asked if he had mixed emotions, Woods shook his head.

“I wanted to come back,” he said. “I love it down here.”

Woods is part of a field that includes Geoff Ogilvy, who has been a member of Victoria since he was a teenager and has played this sandbelt course more than any other in the world. Also playing is Sergio Garcia, Camilo Villegas, Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby.

Woods lost his No. 1 ranking two weeks ago to Lee Westwood, who widened the gap with a runner-up finish in Shanghai. Woods figures the only way to get it back is to do what he did to get there – win tournaments.

He hasn’t come particularly close all year, only twice being in contention in the final round this year.

Woods did not say how far along he was in his swing change, only that he is starting to put together streaks of four or five holes, and even a couple of rounds during a tournament.

Woods has been working with Sean Foley since the PGA Championship in August, and he revealed Wednesday that he wasn’t sure he wanted to change his swing. He already had gone through two swing overhauls with Butch Harmon and one with Hank Haney.

Foley first spoke to Woods at Whistling Straits, and Woods said he didn’t commit to changing until a week later.

“I was waffling,” he said. “Every night I was like, ‘Should I do this?’ One more week at home is when I made the commitment.”

Now he’s trying to figure out how much longer before he changes on the golf course.

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Woods arrives in Melbourne for title defense

MELBOURNE, Australia – Tiger Woods has arrived in Melbourne to defend his Australian Masters golf title, a year after his visit to the city sparked reports of infidelity which damaged his career and tarnished his public image.

Woods hasn’t won a title since last year’s Masters at Kingston Heath and last week lost the world No.1 ranking he held for 281 weeks to England’s Lee Westwood.

Woods’ private jet touched down at Essendon Airport near Melbourne early Tuesday morning. He will make his first public appearance at a gala dinner in Melbourne Tuesday night.

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Woods not surprised by loss of top ranking

Photo by Associated Press

Caddie Steve Williams (left) and Tiger Woods at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

YOKOHAMA, Japan – Tiger Woods says it was no surprise to lose golf’s No. 1 ranking to England’s Lee Westwood after struggling through a disappointing year.

Westwood claimed the top spot Sunday to end a record run by Woods, who had been the world’s No. 1 golfer for 281 consecutive weeks.

“As far as the world ranking is concerned, yes, I’m not ranked No. 1 in the world,” Woods said Monday. “In order to do that you have to win and I didn’t win this year.”

Woods played an exhibition at Yokohama Country Club on Monday against Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa. He is preparing for the HSBC Championship in Shanghai, which starts Thursday at Sheshan International.

Woods had been No. 1 since the week before the 2005 U.S. Open, where he was runner-up. He won the British Open a month later and his ranking had rarely been threatened since.

That changed this year when Woods struggled through his worst season on and off the course. He took a five-month break from golf to cope with confessions of extramarital affairs, which ultimately led to divorce, and his game has not been the same.

Woods said he was doing his best to adjust to no longer being No. 1.

“As far as the emotions go, it is what it is,” Woods said. “To become No. 1 you have to win and win a lot to maintain it. That’s the way it goes.”

Westwood is followed in the rankings by Woods, PGA champion Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker.

With three more events remaining this year, Woods said he hopes to turn things around.

“I’ve got three more events this year and, hopefully, I can end on a good note,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to these events and hopefully they will spearhead into a better 2011.”

Westwood earned the top ranking after PGA champion Kaymer failed to finish among the top two at the Andalucia Masters in Spain. He is the first European since Nick Faldo in 1994 to be No. 1 and the 13th to sit on top since the ranking system began in 1986.

The Englishman’s reign could be short lived.

The HSBC Champions has assembled such a strong field that Westwood, Woods, Kaymer and Mickelson each have a shot at becoming No. 1 by the end of the week. Mickelson is defending champion.

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