Westwood: Tiger a Victim of Own 'Brilliance'

Help me out here. Following his impressive 66 and first round as the World Golf Ranking #1 player, Lee Westwood spoke with reporters regarding his new status as (far as rankings go) the best golfer on the planet.  In a statement that was both confusing and complementary, Westwood offered his opinion on why he believed Tiger Woods eventually lost his place on top:

"I think the world rankings are reflective of how competitive world golf is at the moment. Nobody is out-and-out world number one," Westwood told reporters after playing his first competitive round since last month's Dunhill Links Championship.

"I think that's partly to do with Tiger not having played quite so well this year and partly to do with Tiger having made everybody else elevate their game," he added.

"Tiger's a victim almost of his own brilliance. We have all had to work harder and we have closed the gap, I guess."

Well... I see the point Westy was attempting to make... but let's not get too carried away on a philosphical whim, Lee.  For all intents and purposes, Woods played like garbage for most of 2010.  He also played less events in the year, which doesn't help one's stats or ability to maintain the top ranking.  Many people are surprised he was able to keep the #1 ranking for as long as he did.

While I'm not going to go the route of saying Westwood "backed in" to his place atop the list (even though he didn't win anything, played like crap in the Majors, and needed some help from other #1-contenders to play poorly), he did kind of find himself in a prime position to slowly slide into the ranking.  In fact, he earned the top spot as a matter of mathematics and ranking deadlines as opposed to winning a tournament.