Tiger Woods was lucky to hold onto his world number one ranking after a disastrous tournament in which he finished joint 78th in the 80-man field at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
It was the worst result of Tiger Woods long and successful career, but he managed to hold onto his No.1 ranking as Lee Westwood was sidelined by injury and Phil Mickelson shot a final round of 77 to finish eight over par.
With Woods and Mickelson faltering it was Hunter Mahon who came out on top finishing 12 under par.
Mickelson has had multiple opportunities to claim Tiger’s crown but once again failed at the crucial stage. The American knew that a fourth place finish would have been enough to claim the coveted number one spot, but the reigning Masters champion had a nightmare final round.
Woods had entered the tournament full of confidence having won on his previous four visits to the Firestone course. Yet, after a nightmare four days his total of 298 through four rounds was his highest score throughout his entire PGA tour career.
With the Ryder Cup fast approaching, Woods currently finds himself outside of the automatic qualifying places with just one counting event remaining. With his game in disarray he may miss the event at Celtic Manor.
"Shooting 18 over par is not fun. I don't see how it can be fun shooting 18 over, especially since my handicap is supposed to be zero," he told The Guardian. "It's been a tough year."
Woods even suggested that he might not want to play in one of golf’s biggest events. "Not playing like this, definitely not. I wouldn't help the team if I'm playing like this. No one would help the team if they're shooting 18 over par."
