Out of this world Tiger light years ahead of his rivals

THERE are still one or two lucrative season ending tournaments to be decided but the world rankings at the end of 2002 have been decided.

Needless to say, Tiger Woods leads by miles from Phil Mickelson with Ernie Els in third place. If Woods were to quit now and go off to live the life of a hermit, he would stay in front for something like another five years so far is he ahead of the rest of the field.

Be that as it may, one can take it for granted that Els will soon be challenging Mickelson for the number two spot and the Open champion winner would probably be there already if events such as the Cisco World Match Play Championship and the Sun City Challenge, both of which the South African won in decisive fashion, counted for ranking points.

There is good news and some not so good from an Irish perspective. Pádraig Harrington’s recent victory in the Asian Open ensures that he will finish in eighth place, having begun the year in 11th spot, while recent performances by Darren Clarke have seen him improve from 28th to 22nd. However, Clarke started the campaign in ninth place so the year hasn’t been all he would have hoped for.

Nevertheless, compare that with Paul McGinley’s huge fall from grace, 35th to 105th. It’s just as well he has that Ryder Cup winning putt to look back on. Interestingly, McGinley is one of four Ryder Cup heroes currently outside the world’s top 100, the others being Pierre Fulke (110th), Philip Price (130th) and Lee Westwood (179th from 28th).

Other floundering big names include Greg Norman, 118th and Hal Sutton, 160th. Best of the other Irish is Scandinavian Masters champion Graeme McDowell at 191st.

Pádraig Harrington has moved on from Sun City, where an eight at the third on Sunday put paid to whatever hopes he had of a good finish, to the Sherwood Country Club in Southern California for this week’s Tiger Woods-endorsed Target World Challenge.

Tiger invited the top 16 players in the world but Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and David Duval declined, paving way for the inclusion by invitation of Colin Montgomerie, Mark O’Meara and Bernhard Langer.

The field is completed by Woods himself, Phil Mickelson, Rich Beem, Retief Goosen, David Toms, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, Pádraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Nick Price, Michael Campbell, Chris Dimarco and Bob Estes.

The winner receives a cheque for $1 million with a guarantee of $130,000 Harrington goes from California to Mexico to partner Paul McGinley in next week’s World Cup of Golf, an event they captured together in 1997 at Kiawah Island and after that he won’t compete again until the Accenture World Match Play Championship at the end of February.