It will take more than a knee injury to bump Tiger Woods from atop Golf World's pre-season top-30 ranking. We don't expect the Great One to return until March (at the earliest), but that will give him plenty of time to regain the money title he lost to Vijay Singh in 2008.
When Woods returns, he will face new challenges and not just from the uncertainty of playing on a reconstructed knee. As it did last year, youthful energy permeates our annual list. Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas made great strides the past 12 months; Hunter Mahan was on the Ryder Cup team; and Sergio Garcia improved his putting, won the Players and climbed to No. 2 on the World Ranking. When Woods returns, this group of twentysomething stars could be his main rivals, marking the first time his greatest challengers have been younger than him.
You'll find our top 30 is sprinkled with more Americans than in the past. While many of the great world travelers (South Africa's Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman, Aussies Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy, and Europeans Garcia and Padraig Harrington) remain on the list, others such as Ryder Cup stalwarts Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald have either turned down PGA Tour membership to concentate on the European Tour's new Race to Dubai or won't play more than the required 15 events needed to maintain their tour cards. They will all play the Big Eight (the four majors, the three WGCs and the Players), but regular events should have a more domestic feel. Which is why you see some possible surprises -- Sean O'Hair and Dustin Johnson -- featured on these pages. Can they challenge Tiger in 2009? Stay tuned.
