Tiger Woods breaks into top-20 on OWGR after a strong joint third finish in Abu Dhabi
While German Martin Kaymer has somehow managed to retain his number four spot on the official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), the un-ending marry-go-round between Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy seems to continue for the moment.
The Northern Irishman, despite his two-stroke penalties on the second day at Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, managed to pull in a strong runner-up finish and has now replaced Westwood for the second spot on the OWGR.
McIlroy and Westwood have been bickering over the second spot for a considerable time now and their bitter rivalry has now entered a whole new season with some promising showdowns in the future.
Westwood suffered a devastating neck injury during the second round of the event and decided to persist in the face of the burgeoning injury rather than to withdraw from the tournament.
He pulled in an impressive performance to make the halfway cut and also put up a good fight on the third day.
Battering the pain in his neck and elbow, the Englishman could not perform as good as the roaring Rory.
Westwood said, after his second round bid in Abu Dhabi, "I felt it more yesterday than I did in Wednesday's pro-am and today I felt it quite a lot. The neck locked up some time over Christmas and the pain refers down into the shoulder and then into the elbow; sometimes it's like a needle's being driven in there".
On a question of whether he will choose to withdraw from the event in attempts not to aggravate the injury, Westwood replied,
"If I had hit it regularly in the long rough on my back nine I would have struggled but fortunately I didn't. I hit it off line a couple of times but it went in the desert and that's not quite so bad".
Meanwhile, a resurging Tiger Woods has now broken into top-20 with his strong joint third finish in Abu Dhabi last week and has now confirmed his return to top form.
He is now pitched at number 17 on the OWGR and has surged from a low of 25 last week.
Also the newly crowned king of Abu Dhabi, Robert Rock soared to an impressive 55th from a low of 117th. McDowell has also now moved two places ahead of his former low.
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