As the 2019 Masters continues to creep closer and closer, four-time champ Tiger Woods keeps falling down the world ranking.
Woods took the week off from playing competitively after finishing T30 at the Players Championship two weeks ago. But many pros chose to play the Valspar Championship at the highly-respected Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort. As a result, Woods dropped from No. 13 to No. 14 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
It’s the second-straight week Tiger has fallen in the world ranking. His so-so performance at the Players saw him drop from No. 11 to No. 13.
While other players made minor moves near the top of the ranking, Paul Casey is primarily responsible for Tiger’s drop. Casey held onto his lead Sunday at Innisbrook, finishing one stroke in front of Louis Oosthuizen and Jason Kokrak to win. It was his second-consecutive victory at the Valspar, having narrowly defeated a hard-charging Tiger Woods in 2018.
The victory moved Casey up four spots from No. 15 to No. 11. That also means the players directly in front of him all dropped a spot, including Tiger (Tommy Fleetwood fell from No. 11 to 12, Jason Day from 12 to 13, Tony Finau from 14 to 15, and Bubba Watson from 16 to 17).
Another noticeable move near the top of the rankings was Jon Rahm. Rahm collected a T8 at the Valspar, improving his ranking to No. 8. He takes over that spot from Rickie Fowler, who dropped to No. 10.
As for Woods, he’ll have a chance this week to halt his downward slide in the world ranking. Tiger is teeing it up at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club. He’s won the WGC-Match Play three times so far in his career, in 2003, 2004 and 2008.
Whether or not Woods is able to capitalize on past performance and play well this week, we all know where his next start will be: the 2019 Masters at Augusta National.
