Phil primed for top spot

By Mark Garrod, Press Association Sport Golf Correspondent Last updated: 25th May 2010

Mark Garrod looks at the chances of Phil Mickelson taking over from Tiger Woods as the world number one.

You get used to certain things in golf - Ian Poulter's clothes, Rory McIlroy's hair, Colin Montgomerie's mood swings, Sergio Garcia's missed putts and Phil Mickelson being behind Tiger Woods on the world rankings.

The first four might never change, but the fifth probably will. And it could be this week.

After 246 weeks at number two, every single one of them with Woods ahead of him, and 18 years as a professional, every single one of those as a star, the summit is in sight for Mickelson.

The sport has never had a left-hander as its leading light, but with Woods not playing the 39-year-old goes to Fort Worth in Texas knowing that victory in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial on Sunday will take him to the top for the first time.

If it happens, most golf fans will rejoice.

In terms of popularity he has been winning it hands down since all the sex revelations about Woods started coming out last November.

In terms of ability there will always be differences of opinion, but in terms of recent results the pendulum has definitely been swinging Mickelson's way.

Woods has not been seen much lately, of course. After nearly five months out to try to fix the wreckage of his private life he is now out of action again with a neck injury, although his return is expected at next week's Memorial tournament in Ohio.

In the last eight months, though, Mickelson has won the Tour Championship with Woods three shots behind him in second place, the HSBC Champions in Shanghai with Woods five strokes back in sixth and last month, of course, The Masters with Woods five shots back in fourth.

Mickelson would also have won the Quail Hollow Championship earlier this month but for McIlroy's astonishing 66-62 finish from the cut line. Woods missed the cut by eight.

Their most recent appearance together was The Players Championship in Florida.

Mickelson would have gone to number one there as well if he had won and Woods was outside the top five, but although he did not manage that he was 17th and his great rival was outside the top 50 when he quit seven holes into his final round.

Now that coach Hank Haney has walked out, his marriage by all accounts is on the rocks and his body is letting him down too, Woods has a lot to deal with as he ponders the future.

But Mickelson has hardly been trouble-free off the course this past year either and that ought not to be forgotten.

It was last May that he was the one announcing that he was taking an indefinite break from the game after his wife's breast cancer diagnosis, swiftly followed by the news that his mother had the same disease.

If you had to pick two images from this season so far one would be Woods, in jacket and open-necked shirt, reading his prepared "mea culpa" statement from the US Tour headquarters in February.

The other would be Mickelson winning his third green jacket at Augusta and hugging his wife Amy for what seemed an eternity at the back of the green. He did not know whether she would be well enough to attend.

She might not be in Texas, but she will certainly share the delight if her husband can triumph again and this time take the world number one spot as well.

Mickelson holds Woods in high regard - "I have seen him hit shots that I don't know if anybody else in the world could ever possibly hit," he said at Sawgrass three weeks ago - but now the man who has reigned for 601 weeks in total during a career like no other is purely down to him whether he can reach the top.

Woods has held the position for 601 weeks in all during a career like no other and presumably will not be unduly perturbed by dropping to second because it has happened to him before.

Ernie Els, Greg Norman, David Duval and Vijay Singh have all knocked Woods off top spot since he first got there in June 1997, but there is a big difference this time - his life has been in a mess and on his past two starts his game has deserted him too.

For the first time really it seems realistic to ponder if he might never see the world number one spot again if Mickelson goes past him now.

The acid tests coming up, of course, are Pebble Beach and St Andrews.

Woods won the 2000 US Open at Pebble by a major championship-record 15 strokes, a month later triumphed at the Home of Golf by eight and then returned there five years ago and won by five.

His life has changed somewhat since then. So has his game. So has his image.

The question is - can Mickelson take advantage and finally achieve a goal that must have been his when he took up the game.

At The Players he stated: "It's every player's goal and intent to strive to be recognised as the number one player in the world relative to the rankings.

"It's certainly something that I have been striving for, but have not achieved yet and so it would mean a lot to me.

"But for me to accomplish that I can't focus on that. I've got to go out and get ready to play this golf course because for me to have a chance to achieve number one I've got to win. So I've got a lot of work ahead."

The same applies this week.

Mark Garrod, Press Association Sport Golf Correspondent