SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – Martin Kaymer missed out on a chance to become world number one last week and although Tiger Woods lost his top ranking to Lee Westwood instead, the U.S. PGA champion still regards the American as the man to beat.
“I think in everybody’s head, Tiger is still the best player in the world,” the German told reporters ahead of the HSBC Champions yesterday.
“Of course, he’s not playing so good at the moment but he has some reasons for that, obviously. But everybody hopes he will come back to the way he was before.”
The 25-year-old was poised to become the first player in five years to replace Woods at the top of the rankings but a poor performance at the Andalucia Masters allowed friend and Ryder Cup-winning team mate Westwood to claim the honour.
“I think Lee has played fantastic for the last 12-18 months,” Kaymer said of the Briton. “He played fantastic golf and even though he didn’t play the last couple of weeks, he still deserves to be number one in the world.”
Kaymer, Westwood, Woods and fourth-ranked American Phil Mickelson are all playing in Shanghai this week, and a victory for either one of them would be enough to claim the world number one ranking.
Westwood has been grouped with defending Phil Mickelson and Y.E. Yang for the opening round, while Woods will play with Ernie Els and U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.
