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For the past two plus years, there has been some serious debate about who constitutes the World's best golfer. Tiger Woods held the number one position in the World for five plus years, a string of 332 consecutive weeks before Vijay Singh broke through late in 2004.

Vijay had a season for the ages in 2004, winning 9 events on the tour, his third major championship, and more than $10 million in prize money. When he finally unseated Woods, he carried the torch that led to his being named PGA "Tour Player of the Year".

Though his big 2004 season carried him to Number One in the world late in the year, Singh's dominating performance actually began back in 2003. That year, the hard-practicing Fiji native also won four tournaments and more than $7.5 million in prize money, also the best on Tour in '03.

Since Singh topped Woods back in '04, the two have swapped positions twice. Woods, with a strong start to the season, reemerged as the Number One ranked player with wins at the Buick Invitational in late January and the Ford Championship at Doral in early March. But Singh took the honor back just two weeks later by virtue of his second place finish at Bay Hill, a course the Tiger normally dominates.

Singh stayed Number One for three weeks but then dropped to Number Two when Tiger earned his fourth green jacket and another major championship at the Masters. Responding to Tiger's charge, Singh promptly won two of the next four events, the Shell Houston Open and the Wachovia Championship, then followed that up with a third place finish the very next week.

In the strongest sign of the changing of the guard, Singh last week returned to the Number One ranking and did so without even playing. The rolling Tour calculations dropped Woods to second, also without Tiger playing a round last week. The simple matter is that Woods latest performances do not match his prior track record and he continues his downward slide.

From 1999 through 2003 Woods calculated points earnings based on Tour performance never dropped below 15. For two years running, he first flirted with a 30 point ranking, then followed it with a 20 point ranking. But by 2004, Singh's steadily climbing point value reached nearly 13 just as Tiger slipped under 12. Tiger's decent start to the year had him climb back up to close to 13 once again, a mark that briefly topped Singh, twice, this despite Singh steadily hovering just below 13.

As he moves to the top of the rankings, Singh also currently claims the top money spot on Tour for 2005, topping $5 million before the year is less than five months old. Over the last two and a half years, Singh now has more than $23 million in earnings compared to Woods total of $16 million, another clear sign as to who is the World's best right now.

With three majors left to be played in 2005, a lot can happen to the points total. But over the last two plus years there is no doubt as to who is the best golfer on Tour. That title clearly belongs to Vijay Singh.