Tiger Woods has put himself in prime position to retake his number one world ranking after winning the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday, cutting the deficit between him and Rory McIlroy in half after his 76th career PGA Tour victory.
According to ESPN.com, Woods still remains as the number two ranked golfer in the world after his win at Doral, but he cut his average from 2.61 to just 0.99 behind McIlroy, who is the number one golfer despite struggling in every tournament this year, especially at the Honda Classic where he walked off after playing half a round.
Woods took a two-stroke victory on Sunday over Steve Stricker after shooting 27 birdies in the tournament and he could take over the number one ranking with a win at Bay Hill next week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. McIlroy finished the WGC strong, keeping Woods a bit farther back after shooting a 65 on Sunday.
Woods won for the second time of the season on Sunday, the first time he has taken two tournaments before the Masters since 2005. According to ESPN.com, Woods has earned more total points than anyone on the tour this year, earning 128.044 compared to the 12.729 McIlroy has gained.
Both McIlroy and Woods are scheduled to play one more event before the Masters in April, with Woods playing at Bay Hill and McIlroy taking a week off until the Shell Houston Open the week after. Woods has not been number one in the world since October of 2010 and has been playing his best golf since around that time.
Woods won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and went wire-to-wire at Doral and is the likely favorite heading into the Masters. Woods has been excellent in the past in WGC events, but he had been winless in his last 10 before Sunday and has now five of his past 18 events in stroke-play. Woods also improved to 41-2 in his career when taking the outright lead into the final day at a tournament.
"I'm just trying to get better," Woods said on Sunday. "It's very simple. I feel like my game's becoming more efficient, and it's more consistent day in and day out, and I'm very pleased with the progress I've made with [swing coach] Sean [Foley]."
Woods will be looking for his fifth career green jacket at Augusta in April and it would be his first major championship since 2008 when he won the U.S. Open in a playoff at Torrey Pines, which is where he won the Farmers earlier this season. McIlroy has made it a one sided rivalry this year after struggling since changing to Nike clubs, but after his 65 on Sunday, things could be turning around.
Since Woods was last number one, McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood all have been at the top spot and this is the closest he has come since then to getting it back. Woods used some putting tips from Steve Stricker earlier in the week and took them all the way to the championship, as his 100 putts were the lowest during a tournament in his career.
Woods took home another win at Doral, which will look very different next time the players come to the course, as owner Donald Trump is planning to demolish Blue Monster and put in a complete renovation.
