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Westwood to dethrone Tiger

St Andrews - Lee Westwood will attempt to crown his starring role in Europe's Ryder Cup triumph by deposing Tiger Woods as world number one as the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship gets under way here on Thursday.

The 37-year-old world number two needs to finish either first or second at this week's event in Scotland to end Woods's five-year reign at the top of the global rankings following a successful season.

If he succeeds it will cap a remarkable comeback for Westwood, who reached number four in the rankings in 2001 before his career went into freefall, leaving him languishing at 250th in the world.

Since that low point Westwood has come back strongly, and posted two runner-up finishes at majors this year as well as a victory on the US PGA Tour.

He was one of the star performers for Europe at the Ryder Cup, winning two matches, halving one and losing another.

His victories included a resounding six and five rout of Woods in a foursomes match on Sunday.

Westwood admitted on Wednesday that winning the world number one ranking seemed an unlikely goal when his ranking plummeted to 250th.

"If somebody had said then that I was going to have a chance to go to number one I would have treated it with a fair amount of scepticism," Westwood said.

"But golf is a strange thing. Why not? I went from fourth to 250th, why not be able to go the other way?

"I'm quite a positive thinker, but I'm obviously in a better position than I would have ever dreamt back there."

The last European to reach world number one was Nick Faldo in 1994.

Under the formula which determines rankings, Westwood could theoretically dethrone Woods as world number one if he sat out of tournaments over the next two weeks. But the Englishman ruled out trying to gain top spot by default.

"That's not the way I want to do it," he said.

"I want to get to world number one by playing the way I have for the last two years and proving I'm the best," he said.

Meanwhile Westwood has confirmed that he plans to base himself in Europe next season and will not play on the US PGA Tour.

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