June 12th, 2005, was the last time anyone other than Tiger Woods was ranked number one golfer in the world, when Vijay Singh relinquished the number one ranking back to him after an eight-month spell that had followed Tiger's previous run of six straight years at the top. But after Tiger's well-documented troubles on and off the course in the last twelve months, that run could finally come to an end today, if Phil Mickelson can make up the couple of shots he needs to improve to 4th place or better at the Bridgestone WGC event, and Tiger continues to struggle and remains outside the top 40 at this event.
In World Ranking terms, Mickelson has been one of world sport's biggest bridesmaids - he's spent a total of about 5 years of the last decade ranked second behind Woods, and his personal haul of 4 Major wins would have been far more noteworthy in its own right had it not been overshadowed by Woods' 14 (no-one else since Nick Faldo in 1990 has reached the milestone of a 4th career Major). Finally attaining the number one mantle would be a fitting pinnacle for Mickelson to reach, and at any time, I always prefer it to be the case that the number-one ranked player is also a current Major champion, which "Lefty" is.
In World Ranking terms, Mickelson has been one of world sport's biggest bridesmaids - he's spent a total of about 5 years of the last decade ranked second behind Woods, and his personal haul of 4 Major wins would have been far more noteworthy in its own right had it not been overshadowed by Woods' 14 (no-one else since Nick Faldo in 1990 has reached the milestone of a 4th career Major). Finally attaining the number one mantle would be a fitting pinnacle for Mickelson to reach, and at any time, I always prefer it to be the case that the number-one ranked player is also a current Major champion, which "Lefty" is.
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