Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer to battle for top ranking at 2011 Qatar Masters
World number one, Lee Westwood will defend his ranking against Martin Kaymer at the 2011 Qatar Masters, which will take place at the Doha Golf Club on Thursday. Kaymer surpassed Tiger Woods to gain the world number two ranking
as he ran away with a win at the 2011 HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship last month. Kaymer could be elbowing his way to the top for the first time with a Top 2 finish, provided Lee finishes below the 21st spot.
Even though it is improbable, Kaymer’s ambition of sitting at the top is not impossible. Considering the manner in which the 2010 PGA Championship is unfolding, the number one rank does not seem so far from the German player. Westwood,
on the other hand, would not let go of his recently earned honour without fighting tooth and nail.
37-year-old Lee became the world number one player on 31 October 2010. Woods had been the top cat of golf for the past five years before Westwood replaced him. Lee scored headlines, as he became the first player to top the rankings
without a major win. Formerly ranked as world number two, Phil Mickelson had more than 12 opportunities to displace Woods, but failed to capitalize on any of them. Lee had a decent 2010 and is now eying the major wins in this year.
Lee said that the world’s Top 2 golfers, who are European, will be up against each other in a regular European tour event, citing the strength of golf in Europe at the moment. History is bound to repeat itself as the English-German
duo of Westwood and Kaymer go head-to-head at the event; the last time an English-German duo faced off was 17 years ago when Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer battled it out at the Irish Open in 1993.
"It's obviously nice for us and for European golf that, you know, that 1 and 2 in the world are here at this tournament and both European," Westwood said. "That just shows the strength of the European Tour now, the kind of fields
that we have attracted in the first few weeks of the year."
Where Westy is determined to hold on to his rank, Kaymer is heading into the event with rather modest targets. The 26-year-old German has insisted that he wants to play well in Doha and is focused on just winning the event.
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