Golf Has a New No. 1

For the first time in more than five years, Tiger Woods is no longer golf's No. 1 player. Lee Westwood of England took the top ranking today after PGA champion Martin Kaymer failed to finish among the top two at the Andalucia Masters in Spain. Woods had been No. 1 since the week before the 2005 US Open, where he was runner-up. He won the British Open a month later and his ranking rarely has been threatened since.

Woods has struggled through his worst season on and off the course. As much as this represents the end of Woods' reign, it also completes an amazing turnaround for Westwood, who had at one point sunk as low as No. 266. This is the 10th time Woods has lost the No. 1 ranking in his career, the longest of which was 26 weeks toward the end of the 2004 season, when Vijay Singh went on a great run. The HSBC Champions in Shanghai has assembled such a strong field that Westwood, Woods, Martin Kaymer, or Phil Mickelson could all be No. 1 by the end of the week. (More Tiger Woods stories.)