Tussle at the top

This might sound like an obvious statement, but the battle at the top of the world rankings really does reflect the state of world golf today - several players, all very closely matched in terms of talent, consistency and form, fighting it out weekly for the top spot.

This makes for added interest and excitement on a weekly basis; the way it should be! But it has not always been this way.

Since their inception in 1986 and up to six months ago there had only ever been 12 number ones, with vast chunks of that 25-year period being dominated by one player at a time for long spells. The likes of Woods, Norman, Faldo and Ballesteros all made themselves at home in the number one spot for months, if not years on end.

For now this dominance seems like a thing of the past; last weekend Luke Donald was bidding to become the fourth world number one in less than six months. Donald has been charging up the world rankings over the last 12 months and bagged big points for his victory in the WGC-Accenture Match Play in February and added more with a tied fourth in The Masters.

The number one spot did change hands, however, but it was another Englishman who regained the top spot. Lee Westwood returned to the summit of the world golf ranking on Monday morning after a thrilling weekend tussle between himself and Donald, despite the two Englishmen playing 10,000 miles apart.

As the final rounds of the Asian Tour's Indonesia Masters and the PGA Tour's The Heritage dawned, it was clear that the two men in command of those respective tournaments - Westwood in Indonesia and Donald in the US - would both have the opportunity to claim the world number one spot from Martin Kaymer with a victory.

Westwood, some 13 hours ahead of Donald in Indonesia, kept his side of the bargain with a three-shot win over Thongchai Jaidee at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.

Donald then needed to hold onto his one stroke lead to move to number one but he eventually lost out on the third hole of a sudden-death play-off to Brandt Snedeker, who had rampaged into contention at Harbour Town Golf Links with a final round 64.

At the end of a long day's golf - that also saw Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts claim the Volvo China Open - it was Westwood who reclaimed the number one position that he had held between November 2010 and February 2011 when he was usurped by Kaymer.

The man who celebrated his 38th birthday with victory at the Indonesia Masters now heads to the Ballantine's Championship in Korea looking to consolidate his return to the top spot with a strong performance at the Blackstone Golf Resort in Icheon, on the outskirts of Seoul.

Westwood will headline the strongest field in the history of the Ballantine's Championship this week. The Englishman has a superb record in the Far East with seven victories to his name, and with the chance to make it back-to-back successes in the Far East he will no doubt start as favourite.

With four of the world's top 17 players in the field - Westwood, Dustin Johnson, Ernie Els and Ian Poulter - the tournament is set to carry strong world ranking points as Westwood attempts to strengthen his grip on the top spot.

Three-time Major champion Els is chasing his second victory of the 2011 season after winning the South African Open Championship in his homeland. He finished tied ninth in last year's tournament which was won by Australian Marcus Fraser after being reduced to 54 holes because of heavy rain.

The Ballentine's has given us many a close finish over the years and is set to deal up another fantastic week of golf; one thing we know for certain already, however, is that Westwood, win, lose or miss the cut will still be number one next week - and in the current climate it's not every week you can say that.