Woods Maintains No. 1 Ranking; Former Caddie Not Yet Ready to Bury the Hatchet


Despite finishing with a 6-over 78 on Sunday and a drop into a tie for 25th in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, Tiger Woods remained No. 1 in the latest World Golf Ranking released on Monday.

Adam Scott could have supplanted Woods with a victory in Miami, but the Australian carded rounds of 72 and 73 over the weekend to finish at 5-over 293, the same 72-hole total as Woods.

Interestingly, Woods' former caddie, Steve Williams, who now loops for Scott, came out Tuesday saying that the rift between him and his ex-boss hasn't completely healed.

After Woods and Scott were paired in the first two rounds of the Cadillac Championship, Williams told Fox Sports Australia, "I haven't sorted anything out with [Tiger]," the New Zealander said. "There's been a lot of … this, that and the other … but the hatchet hasn't been buried."

Williams and Woods teamed up to win 13 of Woods' 14 majors between 1999 and 2008. But Williams was abruptly fired in the summer of 2011 while Woods was injured. Williams soon moved on to work for Scott, helping the 33-year-old Adelaide native become the first Aussie in history to win the Masters last April.

"It's just personal things and a difference of opinions on how things went down," Williams said Tuesday. "I need to sort that out with him."

The comment seems to refute what Williams said about the divide last August: "There's an old saying that time heals all wounds," Williams said then. "It's been a couple of years and, as I said, time has a way of healing."

He added this week that Woods has lost his former intimidation factor. "I always felt that was a big thing, that guys were intimidated by him," Williams said. "(But) there's no intimidation factor anymore, and that counts a lot."

Henrik Stenson stayed in third place in the rankings. The Swede is followed in the top 10 by Aussie Jason Day, Phil Mickelson, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, England's Just Rose, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson (no relation) and Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

Patrick Reed, the Cadillac winner, moved up 24 spots to 20th. The season's only three-time winner, Jimmy Walker, is now in 24th.

To see the new rankings, visit http://www.owgr.com/ranking.