FORMER WOLRD NUMBER one Tiger Woods is out of the world’s top 20 for the first time since January 1997.
The man who held the number one spot for more than 11 years in 10 different spells has not played since May 12 because of knee and achilles tendon injuries.
He is expected to announce in the coming days that he is returning to action at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday week.But he will tee up outside of golf’s elite.
He has dropped from eighth to 21st in the rankings and last week announced that New Zealand caddie Steve Williams would not be by his side on his return.
Sergio Garcia has earned a place in next week’s world championship by keeping his place in the game’s top 50, meanwhile.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings: 1 Luke Donald 9.72pts, 2 Lee Westwood 8.33, 3 Martin Kaymer 7.26, 4 Rory McIlroy 7.06, 5 Steve Stricker 6.94, 6 Phil Mickelson 6.27, 7 Dustin Johnson 5.75, 8 Jason Day 5.44, 9 Matt Kuchar 5.38, 10 Nick Watney 5.24 11 Charl Schwartzel 5.21, 12 Graeme McDowell 5.20, 13 Bubba Watson 4.77, 14 KJ Choi 4.71, 15 Paul Casey 4.62, 16 Ian Poulter 4.45, 17 Adam Scott 4.05, 18 Hunter Mahan 3.78, 19 Robert Karlsson 3.75, 20 Retief Goosen 3.67
Other leading Europeans: 22 Francesco Molinari, 25 Alvaro Quiros, 27 Martin Laird, 29 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 30 Matteo Manassero, 31 Darren Clarke, 33 Justin Rose, 40 Edoardo Molinari, 41 Peter Hanson, 42 Anders Hansen, 48 Sergio Garcia, 58 Fredrik Jacobson, 61 Thomas Bjorn, 63 Ross Fisher, 64 Padraig Harrington, 67 Simon Dyson, 70 Alexander Noren, 71 Raphael Jacquelin, 74 Nicolas Colsaerts, 83 Fredrik Andersson Hed, 87 Gregory Bourdy, 90 David Horsey, 94 Pablo Larrazabal, 97 Johan Edfors, 98 Jamie Donaldson, 99 Brian Davis.
- additional reporting AP
