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Florida - Tiger Woods is wifeless, titleless and this weekend will no longer be golf world number one after a record 281 consecutive weeks at the top.
That honour instead will fall to either Englishman Lee Westwood or young German Martin Kaymer, who is the in-form golfer of the moment having won three straight European Tour tournaments including the final major of the season the PGA Championship in the United States.
Westwood, who has yet to win a major but who was runner-up in both the Masters and the British Open this year, could even become number one without hitting a shot in anger if Kaymer fails to finish in the top two at the Andalucia Masters which gets underway on Thursday.
Kaymer, though, will face a classy field that includes Northern Ireland's Ryder Cup hero and US Open champion Graeme McDowell, who is keen also to edge the German in the Race to Dubai standings.
Indeed 25-year-old Kaymer to ensure he takes number one and become the second German to top the rankings - Bernhard Langer was top for three weeks - has to either finish on his own in second or share second with just one player.
Whether it is Westwood or Kaymer they will be the fifth player to displace the American, but the first since Woods went back to the top replacing Fiji's Vijay Singh in June 2005.
Woods, who had one of his better Ryder Cups in October winning two matches with Steve Stricker before crushing Francesco Molinari four and three in the singles, is resigned to losing his number one status but believes things are on the upturn.
"I am more at peace now," Woods said last week.
"I think that I come from a much better place, much more grounded place than I ever have before.
"All in all it was a long, frustrating year, but in the end it turned out that everything's headed in a positive direction now," added the father of two, whose divorce from former Swedish model Elin Nordegren in late August is reported to have cost him anywhere between 100 million and 500 million dollars.
While Woods's fortunes have plummeted, both Kaymer and Westwood have taken full advantage.
Kaymer, who had a respectable Ryder Cup debut returning 2 1/2 points only blotting his copybook with a six and four thrashing by Dustin Johnson in the singles, has admitted that what he has achieved in such a short space of time is beginning to affect him.
"To have done what I have done in such a short time in only five years of being a professional is quite amazing," he said last week.
"It takes a while to come to terms with the fact that you are a proven winner. For me it's not normal to have done what I've done so far, especially this year," added the modest German.
To many golf fans, though, Westwood would, for the moment, appear to have more right to the throne than Kaymer after years of outstanding performances.
The 37-year-old was sidelined for six weeks with a calf muscle injury but showed his class in again leading from the front at the Ryder Cup.
He formed a strong partnership with Kaymer, yielding 1 1/2 points from their two matches, only losing his singles match to Steve Stricker.
The Englishman, who pledged his loyalty to the European Tour just after the Ryder Cup, would also be a popular number one with Kaymer.
"I see him (Westwood) as a role model, one of the very best golfers we have in Europe and he is also such a nice guy," Kaymer said after winning the last of his three tournaments the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Westwood has again been forced to rest because of his troublesome calf, though, he intends to play in Shanghai next week where Woods is also due to compete.
However, the 20-times winner on the European Tour made it clear when he played at the Dunhill where he would place being number one on his achievements.
"I think it would be the greatest thing I've ever done, without a doubt," he said.
"I think everybody would like to be able to say they were the best player in the world - anybody who plays professional sport.
"We all know how much work goes into it and to have the accolade of looking at a list and seeing number one against your name means a lot."
List by total number of weeks in their careers spent at number one, number in brackets chronological order of when they were number one:
Tiger Woods (USA) 623 weeks (9)
Greg Norman (AUS) 331 weeks (3)
Nick Faldo (GBR) 98 weeks (4)
Seve Ballesteros (ESP) 61 weeks (2)
Ian Woosnam (WAL) 50 weeks (5)
Nick Price (ZIM) 44 weeks (7)
Vijay Singh (FIJ) 32 weeks (12)
Fred Couples (USA) 16 weeks (6)
David Duval (USA) 15 weeks (11)
Ernie Els (RSA) 9 weeks (10)
Bernhard Langer (GER) 3 weeks (1)
Tom Lehman (USA) 1 week (8)
