Less than one point now separates the world's top three golfers - Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood - and any of the three could be number one after next week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
Westwood's second placing at the recent British Open has opened the door for the Brit to to pass the two Americans at the top of the World Rankings.
The next scheduled event for the trio is the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on August 5-8.
Woods has been No.1 uninterrupted since June 2005 and for 609 weeks in his career.
Mickelson has been second to him for 254 of those weeks and has now missed several chances to take top spot for the first time.
Now the situation has arisen where he could overtake Woods and yet be overtaken in the same event by Westwood.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings: 1 Tiger Woods 9.97pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 9.24, 3 Lee Westwood 9.04, 4 Steve Stricker 7.35, 5 Jim Furyk 6.65, 6 Ernie Els 5.71, 7 Luke Donald 5.67, 8 Rory McIlroy 5.64, 9 Paul Casey 5.46, 10 Ian Poulter 5.29, 11 Graeme McDowell 4.92, 12 Martin Kaymer 4.86, 13 Anthony Kim 4.86, 14 Robert Allenby 4.31, 15 Louis Oosthuizen 4.13, 16 Retief Goosen 4.03, 17 Edoardo Molinari 3.97, 18 Justin Rose 3.96, 19 Padraig Harrington 3.93, 20 Zach Johnson 3.81.