It seems Tiger Woods slump down the World Rankings has had a knock-on effect among those long seen as a rival to the former long time World No. 1.
Woods is competing in this week’s Emirates Australian Open now ranked 58th.
The last time Woods was ranked anywhere near that placing was in the first week of October 1996 when he burst from 517th in the world to 75th in capturing the Las Vegas Invitational, in just three events and a month after turning pro.
Woods then went to 61st in the world a week later in sharing third place in the LaCantera Texas Open and to 37th seven days later in winning the Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic.
So until recently, Woods had never been outside the top-50 in the rankings in nearly 15 years.
However Woods’ slide down the rankings has also coincided with many of his bitter opponents also taking a rankings tumble.
Triple Major winning, Padraig Harrington, who has not won on either the European Tour or PGA Tour in three years, has nose-dived to 79th.
Ernie Els, also a winner of three Majors, has plunged to 48th.
Former U.S. Open winner, Jim Furyk is down to 48th while double U.S. Open winner, Retief Goosen, who was runner-up to Woods in the 2008 Masters, is down from a career high of third in June 2006 and now ranked 47th in the world.
Then there’s another triple Major winner in Fijian Vijay Singh ranked 59th and Australia’s Robert Allenby, a long-time top-50 ranked player, down to 65th while Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, who was in contention for Masters glory in 1997 where Woods won the first of 14 Majors, plunging from a ranking high of second in October 1996 to the Scot’s current lowly ranking of 312th.
Phil Mickelson following rival Tiger Woods in sliding down the World Rankings. (Photo - Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
Also on the rankings decline is fellow former World No. 2 Phil Mickelson.
Had it not been for Woods, Mickelson would have been No. 1 but in competing in this week’s Barclays Singapore Open, the American has dropped to No. 11 in the world.
It’s the first occasion the 41-year old has been outside the top-10 on the rankings since late August 1996 when Mickelson captured the NEC World Series of Golf.
And Mickelson is in some ways attributing dropping outside of the top-10 in the World Rankings for a first occasion in 15 years to Woods.
“Quite possibly my slump may have had a negative effect on me because of Tiger (Woods) as he has been this great motivational force over the years,” said Mickelson.
“In the earlier years, he had me beaten like a drum, but over the last three or four years, I have been successful against him.
“So I just hope to have that rivalry going on again, and I believe it will happen again soon.
“Tiger just seem to bring out the best in my game. He drove me to practice harder and pushing you to get better helps people achieve higher levels of performance.”
Despite dropping outside the top-10 on the rankings it hasn’t been an altogether poor season for Mickelson.
He began the year with a second in the Famers Insurance Open and then captured his 34th PGA Tour success in winning the Shell Houston Open the week before defending the Masters.
Mickelson was then was joint runner-up to Darren Clarke in The Open at Royal St. Georges.
