Ideally he would have wanted to take the top spot on the course, but the vagaries of the rolling two-year system operated by the world rankings meant he did not have to wait until then. "I'll take it any way," the 37-year-old commented last week on the prospect of topping the rankings while not actually playing.
"I've had a great year up until getting injured (even after that he came second at The Open). "Look at all of the world ranking points I've won - I was leading that by a mile before I got my injury.
"It's something I've always dreamed of and it would be great if it happened."
Such dizzy heights are all a long way from nine years ago when Westwood's form had slumped so dramatically that his world ranking had fallen outside the top 250. Many golf observers were left puzzled by this abrupt about-turn in the fortunes of a golfer who had signalled his precocious talent by ending Colin Montgomerie's seven year run as European Order of Merit winner in 2000 and rising to world number four.
Westwood took an extended break from the game in late 2001 following the birth of his first son and underwent a drastic overhaul of his swing employing the talents of golfing guru David Leadbetter. It took a while though for him to reap the benefits of all his hard work and, despite playing a starring role every two years in the Ryder Cup clashes with the United States, Westwood had to wait until 2007 to establish himself back inside the world top 50, largely due to a crucial win in the British Masters.
Since then, Westwood has gone from strength to strength. looking fitter and more confident with each year. Climbing back into the world top 10, he looked set to finally win a major, but that milestone has agonisingly eluded him over the last two years as he tied for third at both the British Open and US PGA in 2009 before taking the runner-up spot at this years Masters and British Open.
Westwood's Ryder Cup skipper Montgomerie though scoffed at suggestions that Westwood was unworthy of the number one spot because he has not yet won a major.
"There's a lot of talk about Lee not having won a major so how can he be number one, but that didn't interest me when I was number two in the world and I was trying to get to Greg Norman who was number one at the time."
Holding on to the top spot though, could be a tough task, Montgomerie believes. "Once you are number one you want to stay there, and you've got to improve because the standard behind you is improving," he said. "It might be the end of Tiger's reign for a limited period, but I don't think he will be very happy about being two or three in the world." Westwood's reign as world number one, the first for a European golfer since Nick Faldo in 1994, could be short-lived.
Both he and Woods will be in action at next week's star-studded HSBC Champions Trophy in Shanghai with Germany's Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson also in the hunt to top the rankings.
Factfile - Lee Westwood:
Date of Birth - 24/04/1973
Place of Birth - Worksop, England
Residence - Worksop
Age - 37
Height - 1.83m
Weight - 89kgs
Turned Pro - 1993
European Tour wins - 20
US PGA Tour wins - 2
Japan Tour wins - 4
Other Tour wins - 6
Ryder Cup appearances - 7 (1997 winners, 1999, 2002 winners, 2004 winners, 2006 winners, 2008, 2010 winners
Other honours - European Order of Merit (2000), Race to Dubai (2009)
Family - Wife: Laurae (m.1999); Children: Samuel Bevan (2001), Poppy Grace (2004)
Interests Films, snooker, cars, Nottingham Forest FC
Web Site www.leewestwood.com
Previous golf world number ones prior to Lee Westwood (List by total number of weeks in their careers spent at number one, number in brackets chronological order of when they were number one):
Tiger Woods (USA) 623 weeks (9)
Greg Norman (AUS) 331 weeks (3)
Nick Faldo (ENG) 98 weeks (4)
Seve Ballesteros (ESP) 61 weeks (2)
Ian Woosnam (WAL) 50 weeks (5)
Nick Price (ZIM) 44 weeks (7)
Vijay Singh (FIJ) 32 weeks (12)
Fred Couples (USA) 16 weeks (6)
David Duval (USA) 15 weeks (11)
Ernie Els (RSA) 9 weeks (10)
Bernhard Langer (GER) 3 weeks (1)
Tom Lehman (USA) 1 week (8)
http://www.sport24.co.za/Golf/Westwood-ends-Tigers-reign-20101031
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