World top 10 now a European-free zone

AFTER 931 weeks it has finally happened — no European is in the top 10 of the world golf rankings.

After finishes of first and third in the last three weeks the American left-hander Phil Mickelson has charged back up to ninth and Padraig Harrington, yet to play this season, drops from 10th to 11th.

The Dubliner has been flying the flag for Europe on his own since Sergio Garcia and Colin Montgomerie dropped out of the top 10 at the start of last season. They currently stand 39th and 48th respectively.

No European has won a major since Paul Lawrie captured the 1999 Open at Carnoustie and none has been No 1 since Nick Faldo in early 1994.

In the very first ranking list 18 years ago Bernhard Langer was No 1, Severiano Ballesteros second and Sandy Lyle third.

Ian Woosnam was the next European to join the top 10, then Jose Maria Olazabal.

In 1991 Woosnam, Masters champion and world No 1 by then, was followed on the list by Olazabal, Faldo and Ballesteros.

Montgomerie entered the top 10 in 1994 and came close to toppling Greg Norman from the No 1 spot, while Lee Westwood, Garcia, Jesper Parnevik, Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn have all reached the top 10, but have been unable to stay there.

Tiger Woods’s lead at the top has been cut to three points by Vijay Singh’s victory at Pebble Beach yesterday. Woods has been top for 235 weeks in a row, 306 weeks in all, just 25 short of Norman’s all-time record.

Latest rankings:

1 Tiger Woods 13.51, 2 Vijay Singh 10.43, 3 Ernie Els 9.12, 4 Davis Love 7.42, 5 Jim Furyk 6.67, 6 Mike Weir 6.53, 7 Retief Goosen 5.56, 8 Kenny Perry 4.96, 9 Phil Mickelson 4.87, 10 David Toms 4.77 Others: 11 Padraig Harrington 4.73, 12 Darren Clarke 4.41, 18 Fredrik Jacobson 3.46, 19 Thomas Bjorn 3.33, 31 Paul Casey 2.85, 39 Sergio Garcia 2.49, 41 Alex Cejka 2.41, 47 Ian Poulter 2.24, 48 Colin Montgomerie 2.19, 51 Phillip Price 2.15, 54 Justin Rose 2.13, 55 Miguel Angel Jimenez 2.12, 58 Niclas Fasth 2.06, 60 Lee Westwood 1.98, 71 Brian Davis 1.8, 74 Mathias Gronberg 1.7, 76 Nick Faldo 1.67, 81 Ignacio Garrido 1.57, 84 Alastair Forsyth 1.54, 85 Bernhard Langer 1.54, 95 Raphael Jacquelin 1.47, 97 Paul Lawrie 1.45, 99 Bradley Dredge 1.44, 100 Gary Evans 1.42.