As the countdown towards the year’s first Major Championship nears its conclusion Henrik Stenson has a chance to tee it up at Augusta National next week as the new World Number One.
Currently third in the Official World Golf Ranking the Swede would go top if he were to win this week on the PGA Tour at the Shell Houston Open, overtaking Tiger Woods, who will be out for a few months after back surgery.
Only 16 men have reached the summit of the sport and if Stenson were to join that elite group he would be just the fourth from continental Europe to do so, following on from Bernhard Langer and Seve Ballesteros, who both jostled for the top spot in 1986 when the rankings first started, and Martin Kaymer.
Such a feat would also see the Swede follow in the footsteps of compatriot Annika Sorenstam, who dominated the women’s game for so long, and would make him the first Swedish male to top the Official World Golf Ranking.
Having fallen as low as 230th in the list in February 2012, claiming the number one ranking a little over two years later would be a remarkable comeback for Stenson, who returned to form in such spectacular style culminating in his victory in the DP World Tour Championship to win The Race to Dubai.
While Stenson is the only man in with a chance of claiming the top spot this week, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Phil Mickelson are all in with a chance of overtaking Woods at Augusta National.
Defending Masters Champion Scott will need to finish top three in the year’s first Major if he is to move top, while compatriot Day, who has finished in the top three twice since 2011, needs a maiden Green Jacket if he is to do the same. Mickelson will also need to triumph in Georgia if he is to go to Number One for the first time in his career, but he will require a win this week in Houston too in order to achieve that.
As for Stenson, he is the only man who can usurp Woods this week, and heads to Houston having finished in a tie for second there last year and in search of another career high.
