Mickelson on tiger's tail

Phil Mickelson is now only 0.52 points behind fellow American Tiger Woods at the top of the world rankings.

Mickelson has never been number one but the left-hander’s victory at the WGC-CA Championship in Florida, his second win in four weeks and the first World Championship success of his career, has lifted him back above Sergio Garcia into second place.

It was Garcia who had a chance to overtake Woods last week, but the 29-year-old Spaniard finished down in 31st spot.

Not that victory would have done it for Garcia in any case. Woods needed to finish 27th or worse, but tied for ninth.

With all three now taking time off, the battle for the top spot goes to next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill – and two weeks after that comes The Masters at Augusta.

Latest leading positions:

1 Tiger Woods 9.14pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 8.62, 3 Sergio Garcia 7.51, 4 Geoff Ogilvy 6.30, 5 Padraig Harrington 5.91, 6 Vijay Singh 5.86, 7 Camilo Villegas 5.01, 8 Kenny Perry 4.91, 9 Robert Karlsson 4.86, 10 Henrik Stenson 4.85

11 Jim Furyk 4.39, 12 Anthony Kim 4.35, 13 Paul Casey 4.30, 14 Lee Westwood 4.25, 15 Steve Stricker 4.21, 16 Ernie Els 4.18, 17 Rory McIlroy 3.96, 18 Stewart Cink 3.73, 19 Mike Weir 3.65, 20 Adam Scott 3.49.

Other leading Europeans:

22 Justin Rose, 23 Martin Kaymer, 25 Alvaro Quiros, 26 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 27 Luke Donald, 28 Ross Fisher, 34 Ian Poulter, 36 Oliver Wilson, 42 Graeme McDowell, 52 Soren Kjeldsen, 54 Peter Hanson, 55 Anders Hansen, 59 Soren Hansen, 70 Carl Pettersson, 77 Darren Clarke, 81 Anthony Wall, 82 Francesco Molinari, 83 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 88 Gareth Maybin, 89 Fredrik Jacobson, 91 Alexander Noren.