IF, IN truth, it would seem that even Tiger Woods doesn’t know where or when he will reappear on a golf course – if at all in 2010 – the reality is he can keep his clubs in cold storage for a considerable amount of time before anyone stands a snowball’s hope in hell of overtaking him as the world’s number one ranked golfer.

Woods has topped the official world rankings for longer than any player since they were introduced in 1986. Indeed, the statistics make for informative reading: Woods has been number one for the last 236 weeks (which equates to four years and six months) and for a total of 578 weeks (11 years one month) in his career. In the 23- year history of the rankings, only 12 players have ever reached the pinnacle.

And, now that Woods has taken an “indefinite break” from the sport, it would still take his nearest contender in the rankings, Phil Mickelson, up to six months to overhaul him. Woods is currently top of the world rankings with an average of 15.20 points with Mickelson second on 8.54, a difference of 6.6 points, which equates to the gap between Mickelson and world number 72 Chris Wood.

We don’t have to go back too far, in fact, to gauge the strength of Woods’s lead when inactive from tournament play. When Woods was forced to take a break from the sport in June 2008 after winning the US Open at Torrey Pines, his lead over Mickelson was a whopping 11.13 points . . . and it meant that, even though Woods didn’t play for eight months, nobody managed to overtake him in the time he was forced to take off to recuperate from the major knee surgery he had to undergo after the last of his 14 major title victories. The closest Mickelson got to overtaking Woods was the week before the Bay Hill Invitational in March. Woods’s average had fallen to 9.1 and Mickelson’s was at 8.6, just a half-point differential; but Woods won that tournament and started the process of opening up the gap on his rivals all over again.

While Woods will likely remain as the world’s number one for an indefinite period, even if he stays away from the golf course, his squeaky-clean image has taken a hammering with Accenture, Gillette and Gatorade all backing away from their association with the player. And last night Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer back-tracked on an apparent vow to stick by troubled golfer, raising the prospect it could be next in line to cut ties with the sportsman.

Earlier in the day spokeswoman Mariam Sylla told reporters the firm continued to “respect his performance in the sport” adding that his personal life was “not our business”.

However, company vice-president of communications Francoise Bezzola Bezzola later said the report was “not the official position”. He stressed no official decision had been made, adding that it was still “considering” whether to drop or continue its seven-year association with Woods.

Media watchers Nielsen IAG have also produced the information that no fewer than 20 Woods-related jokes referencing his sponsors featured on late-night talk shows in the United States in a 10-day period after the initial car crash in Florida and as the stories of his infidelity gathered momentum.

Another media survey, by internet analysts Zeta Interactive, found that Woods’s positive popularity rating of 91 per cent (after the news of his car crash on November 27th) had fallen to just 41 per cent by last Saturday, while the golfer has become the butt of jokes – not just on primetime television in the States – but on the internet, with one of the top USA sites, dailycomedy.com, having a section with almost 600 Woods-related jokes.

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Tiger Woods has been world number one for the last 236 weeks and for a total of 578 weeks in his career. The other players who have had official the top status in the 23-year history of the ranking are: Bernhard Langer (3 weeks), Seve Ballesteros (61 weeks), Greg Norman (331 weeks), Nick Faldo (97 weeks), Ian Woosnam (50 weeks), Fred Couples (16 weeks), Nick Price (44 weeks), Tom Lehman (1 week), Ernie Els (9 weeks), David Duval (15 weeks) and Vijay Singh (32 weeks).

Nike back Woods

NIKE chairman and co-founder Phil Knight yesterday said the scandal surrounding Tiger Woods is “part of the game” in signing endorsement deals with athletes and did not back away from the athletic shoe and clothing maker’s relationship with the golfer.

Knight said there was no plan to distance Woods from Nike, which has founded its global golf business on Woods’ reputation and play.

“I think he’s been really great,” Knight said. “When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now.”