Golf: Lee Westwood could be set to wrest world No.1 spot from Tiger Woods' grasp

LEE WESTWOOD still does not have a major title yet, but he could be less than three weeks away from toppling Tiger Woods as World No.1.

Westwood remained third in the rankings behind Woods and Phil Mickelson with his second place at The Open on Sunday.

But because the two Americans came 23rd and 48th respectively, the gap has closed sufficiently for Westwood to go past both of them with a win, or possibly even second place, at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on 5-8 August.

That is the next scheduled appearance for all three, Westwood having pulled out of next week's Irish Open to rest his ruptured calf muscle.

Woods has been No.1 uninterrupted since June 2005 and for 609 weeks in his career. Mickelson has been second to him for 254 of those weeks and has now missed several chances to take top spot for the first time.

Now the situation has arisen where he could overtake Woods and yet be overtaken in the same event by Westwood.