Tiger losing his stripes as Golf's No.1 | Thebigtip

By correspondents in Akron, Ohio from foxsports.com.au

Tiger Woods may hold onto his world No. 1 ranking for at least one more week, despite an astonishingly poor performance at the Bridgestone Invitational.

Fellow American Phil Mickelson needs to finish solo fourth or better to have a chance of displacing Woods atop the rankings, but he did himself no favors with a mediocre one-over-par 71 in the third round at Firestone Country Club.

Mickelson slipped to equal 10th, four strokes behind leaders Ryan Palmer (63) and Sean O'Hair (64), who were on nine-under 201 in the World Golf Championships event.

Mickelson said he wasn't thinking about the world ranking, but rather focused on winning the tournament, and he acknowledged he would have to sharpen up to have any chance.

"I didn't play very well and made some bogeys on the back nine that were costly,'' he said.

"I'm not pleased with the way I'm driving the ball and not pleased with my performance around the greens, although my iron play has been pretty good.

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