Tiger Woods retains No. 1 ranking but probably not for long

Tiger Woods, without hitting a golf ball at Bay Hill last week, hung on to his No. 1 world ranking for at least another seven days after Adam Scott on Sunday blew a large lead and the prospect of overthrowing the king at The King’s annual garden party.

Scott, who rode his broomstick putter to a course record-matching 10-under 62 in Thursday’s Arnold Palmer Invitational opener, looked in the closer as if he would have trouble rolling a rock into the Grand Canyon, as his 32-putt, 76 finale can attest.

“I was getting into a really good spot and had an opportunity here to run away with an event and really take a lot of confidence,” Scott told reporters after Sunday’s meltdown that left him at 11-under and in third place behind first-time PGA Tour winner Matt Every (13-under) and Keegan Bradley (-12). “I’m taking confidence, anyway, from just some good play but some opportunities you’ve got to take.”

It may be, as Johnny Miller opined during Scott’s final-round implosion, that the reigning Masters champion was letting his desire to grab the top spot get in the way of just playing. The 33-year-old Australian also blew an occasion at Doral earlier this month to claim bragging rights, so Johnny may be on to something.

For sure, Scott has made no secret of his yearning to fulfill a childhood dream of being the best in the world and, with Woods on the bench with a bad back that may keep him out of the Masters, he may have coughed up his best hope of doing so.

After Sunday’s stinker, Scott will have to wait until April 13 to see if the third time’s the charm. In the meantime, however, he may have to leapfrog another pretender to the throne, as current No. 3 Henrik Stenson would find himself in first place with a win at next week’s PGA Tour event.

A victory at the Shell Houston Open for the 37-year-old from Sweden would land the joint FedExCup/Race to Dubai titleholder in the driver’s seat heading into the men’s first major of the season.

Should Stenson fall short at the Golf Club of Houston and Woods remain on the DL through the Masters, the probability is that Tiger’s year-plus reign atop the world rankings will come to an end.