Top 25 golf stories of 2013, No. 10: After 2.5 years, Tiger Woods is No. 1 in the world again

A whopping 877 days after he'd lost it, Tiger Woods regained the No. 1 spot in the world and made our countdown in the process.

On Oct. 31, 2010 Lee Westwood overtook Tiger Woods for the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings. Some 877 days later, Woods finally regained the top spot in the world.

Other than on paper, being No. 1 in the world doesn't mean a whole lot. It's a nice career accomplishment, but it won't win you tournaments and certainly doesn't guarantee you'll win major championships. For Woods, however, reclaiming the No. 1 spot in the world was less about the number next to his name and more about the journey it took to get there.

He was in the midst of a downward spiral when Westwood officially passed him. Woods was coming off a winless season and still in the process of moving beyond the highly-publicized off-the-course issues in his life. His life on the course wasn't much better. He had changed coaches and was working on a new swing, but attempting to do so while playing through an assortment of leg injuries. He missed time due to a knee injury and fired long-time caddie Steve Williams. His career on-the-course hit rock bottom on Nov. 6, 2011 when the dropped to No. 58 in the world.

From there, Woods began the long and arduous process of climbing back to the top of the world. Following back-to-back winless seasons, he started to regain his old form early in in 2012. His win at the 2012 Arnold Palmer was his first since he won the BMW Championship in 2009. He went on to add two more wins that season, vaulting all the way to No. 3 in the world.

Coming off a rebound season, the "is Tiger back" debates were in full swing at the start of the 2013 season. For his part, Woods didn't waste much time answering the question. He won his first event of the year at the Farmers Insurance Open. He then made it two wins with a victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

Two weeks later, he made at run at No. 1. Historically, Woods has played well in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. That proved to be the case once again when a third-round 66 put him in contention. Needing a win to overtake the No. 1 spot, Woods was forced to wait an extra day when severe weather delayed the tournament. He was challenged by Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose on the final day, but wound up winning by two strokes.

Nearly two-and-a-half years later, Tiger Woods was once again the top player in the world. The ranking was nothing new, he'd spent 623 weeks in the top spot during his career, but it was the end of a very long journey. Many questioned whether he'd ever get back there. Fans, analysts, even players. He did ... eventually.

Now all he has to do is winner another major.

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Zach Johnson wins Northwestern Mutual World Challenge

Zach Johnson saw off Tiger Woods in a play-off to complete a remarkable comeback and claim the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge title from under the nose of its host.

Johnson found himself four shots back after 10 holes as Woods appeared to be cruising to victory in his tournament at the Sherwood Country Club.

But he staged a stirring comeback on the way home as Woods stagnated, sinking four birdies and chipping in from the drop zone on the 18th to take the contest into a play-off with a four-under round of 68, before taking the title on the first extra hole.

That scenario looked a long way off after 10 holes.

Woods led by two from Johnson overnight and he moved a further shot clear of his fellow American after reaching the turn in 34 following birdies on the par-five second and fifth holes.

That left Woods on 13 under for the tournament while Johnson was 10 under after nine having only picked up the one birdie on the fifth.

When Johnson bogeyed the 10th to go four behind, his prospects looked bleak, but he birdied the 11th and 12th, and when Woods dropped a shot at 14 the deficit was cut to just one.

Both players birdied 16, then when Johnson picked up a shot on the next it was all square at 13 under.

Johnson was in trouble on the 18th after finding the water, but holed spectacularly from the drop zone to save par, then parred the first play-off hole - as Woods found the bunker and missed a four-foot putt - to take the title.

Johnson was left to reflect on his striking effort at the 18th.

"[It] was a little bit too dramatic for me," he told NBC. "I'm lucky it went in."

Woods was magnanimous in defeat, saying: "I had a two-shot lead starting out the day. Zach, I don't know how the last three iron shots didn't go in the hole. It was pretty impressive on 16, 17, and 18.

"He got me."

In third place, four shots behind the leading pair on nine under, were Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar, who had a best-of-the-day five-under-par 67.

Webb Simpson was fifth, with 2012 champion Graeme McDowell sixth on five under and Ian Poulter seventh on three under.

Rory McIlroy had a 70 for his second straight under-par round to finish level for the tournament.

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Henrik Stenson rounds off stellar year with another trophy

Henrik Stenson has been awarded the 2013 Golf Writers Trophy following a season which saw him make history on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Swede became the first player to win both the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup and the European Tour's Race to Dubai in the same season, an achievement which helped him rise to number three in the world.

The 37-year-old beat off competition from US Open champion Justin Rose and the victorious European Solheim Cup team to claim the award, which recognises outstanding achievements during the year from golfers born or resident in Europe and European teams.

"I think when you look at what others achieved like Justin and the Solheim Cup team it does make it mean that little bit more," he said.

"It's a huge honour and a great reflection on the year I had.

"I'm looking forward to getting a few of these trophies I've won into the summer house in Sweden. It has been such a great year that I can have a few in Europe and a few in my house in America.

"What a great thrill it is going to be over Christmas to sit by the fire with my family and take stock of the season, look at trophies such as this one and reflect on the year of my life."

Stenson registered almost two-thirds of the votes to claim the honour, which was won by Rory McIlroy last year, with Rose finishing second and Liselotte Neumann's team coming in third.

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Day draws strength from roller-coaster year

LOS ANGELES - Jason Day has been torn between golfing joy and personal grief over the past two months but he believes the experience has strengthened his resolve and character as he aims to build on a "good year" in 2014.

Aged just 26, the Australian has established himself as one of the game's most exciting players and, with a rare ability to perform at his best when the pressure is at its most intense, has set his sights on landing a maiden major title.

Day has recorded six top-10s in golf's blue riband events, including three this year, and proved in stunning fashion that he is well equipped to overcome adversity by completing an emotional double triumph at the World Cup of Golf last month.

Despite just days earlier having lost eight relatives who were killed in the Philippines by Typhoon Haiyan, he went on to win the World Cup of Golf by two strokes at Royal Melbourne, along with the team title in partnership with Adam Scott.

"That was obviously a very emotional week and to win the World Cup the way we did and then win the individual (title) on top of that, plus to have my family in town, was pretty special," world number 11 Day told Reuters.

"I have played some pretty solid golf over the last three weeks so overall it's been an up-and-down roller-coaster, as you would think. But I am very happy with how I have handled myself, through the good and the bad.

"It would have been the easiest thing for me to just go ahead and pull out of the tournament with what had been going on ... but I really wanted to play with Adam and try to win the World Cup, and we achieved that which was great."

Day, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the 2010 Byron Nelson Championship, was especially delighted to clinch a fifth World Cup team title for Australia, their first since Peter Fowler and Wayne Grady triumphed in 1989.

"To bring it back to Australia, playing in front of the home crowd, and then winning it on one of the most well-known Australian golf courses was very special," said Day, who is known for his attacking strategy and explosive shot-making.

"To be able to win it with Scotty, who has been a really good friend of mine for a long, long time now, to play as well as we did and to win it pretty convincingly in the end (by 10 shots), was a complete honor."

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Asked to assess his overall 2013 campaign, Day replied: "It's been a good year. The only thing that I obviously didn't have was another win on the PGA Tour.

"But I had a really solid win at the World Cup against the best players in the world and that's very encouraging for next year. I am very motivated.

"Now I've got about five or six weeks off, get some good rest and then get into the gym and try to really get fit for next year. I am looking forward to starting next season."

Day, who ended his 2013 season by tying for ninth in an elite field of 18 at last week's Northwestern Mutual World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods in California, will specifically target golf's four major championships next year.

"I would love to win a major," said the Queenslander who finished third at this year's Masters before tying for second at the U.S. Open two months later. "That's a big goal of mine.

"I have to improve mentally a little more but I feel like my game is in a good spot. It's getting tougher to win tournaments and you've just got to work harder than the next guy to have that extra edge over him."

Should Day require major inspiration, he need look no further than at compatriot Scott, who made his long-expected breakthrough at the game's highest level with a playoff victory at this year's Masters.

Asked what he identified as the biggest difference in Scott's game this year, Day replied: "His game has always been there, I just think he's working a little bit harder and he wants it a little bit more.

"It's amazing the results you can get when you actually want it so bad that you will actually do it.

"Some years are up and down but when you really, really want it, it's difficult not to get what you want because it's just that law of attraction, I guess."

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Mandela, a natural charmer with the measure of those he met

BRUSSELS - Thousands upon thousands of people, great and small, met Nelson Mandela, and as a correspondent in South Africa from 1997-2000, I was fortunate to be among them.

During his presidency and in the early years of his retirement from office, Mandela made a point of meeting as many of the people who beat a path to his door as possible.

He loved the gatherings which, while often stage-managed and to a certain extent set up for the media, were also perfect opportunities to observe Madiba at close range.

Two meetings are crystallised in the memory, not so much for their political importance but for what they showed of his personality and almost child-like enjoyment of the moment, not to mention the intense impact he had on people.

The first was an encounter with the Spice Girls in 1997, when the British band was taking the world by storm. They were performing at a concert in Johannesburg to help raise money for the Prince's Trust, a charity overseen by Prince Charles.

As he was hugged and kissed by each of the women in turn, including Ginger Spice wearing bright-red, six-inch (15-cm) platform shoes and a super-short Japanese-style dress, Mandela beamed and declared it to be the "greatest day of my life".

It was a phrase he often used when meeting high-profile visitors, an easy way of flattering them since it was nearly always the greatest day of their lives rather than of his.

But he always managed to say it with a ring of truth, and perhaps at some level meeting five excitable 20-something women in skimpy clothes really was a great day - certainly not the sort of thing that happens in prison.

His minders said they were sure he hadn't heard of the Spice Girls until that morning, but it didn't matter to Mandela.

That was the mark of the man: that he could switch from meeting kings and presidents one day, a child from Soweto or his former jailers the next and the Spice Girls the day after, and genuinely be able to say each time that it was the best of all possible days.

That said, it was the boxers he met, including Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, who really put a smile on his face, reminding him of his earliest sporting passion.

A GLOBAL STAR SILENCED

The other meeting that stands out took place with Tiger Woods and his father Earl Woods in 1998. Tiger had won the U.S. Masters the year before and was on his way to being regarded as the world's greatest player at the age of 22.

But rather than a champion with the world at his feet, the person who met Mandela that day looked like an awe-struck schoolboy in an oversized grey suit, one hand in his pocket.

No one but Woods knows what was said in the private meeting with Mandela, but in an appearance in front of the press immediately afterwards, Tiger barely uttered a word. In photos, he can be seen staring in silent amazement while his father talked about the importance of his son meeting Mandela.

Despite his reticence 15 years ago, the moment clearly left an impression on Woods. He called the meeting an inspiration and wrote on Twitter the day Madiba died: "Pop & I felt your aura when we met. I feel it today & I will feel it forever."

The only time I shook hands with Mandela again provided a moment of amusing insight into his character.

It was at a Foreign Correspondents' Association dinner in Johannesburg in 1998 and Mandela had been invited as the guest of honour.

About 150 journalists were there, including Charlayne Hunter-Gault, at the time a correspondent for U.S. National Public Radio who had been one of the first people to interview Mandela when he was released from prison.

Knowing Hunter-Gault a little bit and knowing that she knew Mandela, I shamelessly stood beside her as Mandela came down the receiving line shaking hands with everyone as he left.

As he got to Hunter-Gault, Mandela broke into a broad smile and held his arms out wide for a hug. "Charlayne! Charlayne! Lovely to see you again," he said in his distinctive voice, taking her hands in his and holding her with a tight gaze.

"When are you going to become a South African citizen?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye. "We would be honoured to have someone as lovely as you as a South African."

His flirtatious banter left Hunter-Gault, a striking woman seldom at a loss for words, speechless and close to blushes.

He may be 80 but he's an outrageous charmer, I remember thinking. But before I could complete the thought his hand was outstretched in my direction. We exchanged a quick shake.

"Hello," I said, "nice to meet you." But there was no reply. He had already moved down the line.

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