Woods and McDowell shake hands after McDowell won the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament on a playoff hole in Thousand Oaks.
Woods and McDowell shake hands after McDowell won the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament on a playoff hole in Thousand Oaks. Reuters

Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell will overtake Tiger Woods in the world rankings on Sunday and could even go up to third depending on how Luke Donald performs.

The US Open winner McDowell and Englishman Luke Donald both reached the last-16 of the WGC Match Play, Arizona, and both have a chance of becoming World Number three.

McDowell said, I'm perhaps a better golfer than Tiger in the last 12 months but he's the greatest player. It would be nice to slip past him for a little while.

He added, If someone told me at some point in my career I would be number three in the world I'd be proud of that fact.

McDowell, who started last year at 50th position in the rankings, has moved up swiftly during the year, as he became the first European in 40 years to win the US Open and helped Europe beat USA in the Ryder cup.

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