Such is the esteem that Tiger Woods still holds that one of his former rivals still ranks beating him as a career highlight.

Lee Westwood is one of Europe’s greatest ever golfers, turning pro in 1993 three years before Woods joined him on the scene.

The Nottingham native staged some of his greatest battles against the American hero, and one moment of pride still stands out to this day.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Westwood explained: “One of the great things about my career is that I got to play against Tiger Woods at his best.

“People will ask me what the highlight of my career was and I’ll say getting to world No.1.

“It wasn’t just getting there, it was the fact I took the world No.1 spot off Tiger who was probably the best player to ever play the game.”

Westwood took the honour in October 2010 and held it for 17 weeks.

What makes that feat even more incredible is that he knocked Woods off a perch where he’d sat for 281 weeks, an all-time record that still stands today.

Westy gave up the spot to Martin Kaymer the next year for eight weeks, but then took it back to top his career total up to 22 weeks as the world’s best.

Woods had been dominating not just the rankings but the world of golf at the time, racking up a massive 15 majors between 1997 and 2019 – the second highest number of all time.

Still competing now despite a number of serious injuries and a life-threatening car crash, Woods is considered by many as the greatest golfer of all time, not least one of the most legendary sportspeople we’ve ever seen.

Given the competition in the modern game his records look insurmountable, but there’s someone on the rise showing glimpses they could have a go at them

The American is currently on a 109 week run as world No.1, a feat only bettered by Woods, and a cumulative total of 144 weeks, putting him third all time behind Woods and Greg Norman.

Scheffler also has three majors to his name – twice at the legendary Masters, and is quite clearly already an all-time icon at the age of just 28-years-old.

As good as Woods, though? Westwood hasn’t got any doubts.

“When you lay the stats side by side he’s got miles to go,” he said.

“Tiger was so dominant, I don’t think anybody will ever be as good as Tiger.”