Adam Scott has his eyes on Tiger Woods' world No.1 golf ranking but he'd better watch out for Henrik Stenson.
World No.2 Scott's back to back wins in the Australia PGA and Australian Masters prompted Greg Norman to tweet on Monday that the No.1 ranking is "on the near horizon" for the US Masters champion.
But world No.3 Stenson threatens to get there first.
The 37-year-old Swede's last four months have been nothing short of phenomenal, culminating in victory in the European tour's season finale in Dubai on Sunday.
He became the first man to win the European Tour's Race to Dubai title and the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup title in the same season.
Never before had some won both the Tour Championship in the US and the Tour Championship in Europe in the same season.
Since finishing third in the Scottish Open in July, Stenson has set the standard in world golf, winning three tournaments and finishing inside the top-10 nine times in 13 starts across both US and European PGA Tours.
In that period, he has amassed $US17.9 million ($A19.14 million) on the golf course alone, including $US10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup and $US1 million for winning the Race to Dubai.
Stenson drew rave reviews from peers after clinching his first European player title in style by eagling the final hole for a 64 at Dubai's Jumeirah Golf Estates to win the DP World Tour Championship title by six strokes from Ian Poulter.
"He's been in incredible form the last six months, and even with a sore wrist, he's managed to continue to press on," said Poulter.
He has played exceptional golf...flawless to be honest with you. The guy is the hottest player on the planet right now, and all credit to him."
"Obviously, it's been a dream year, a dream summer for me, and the season of my life. I would be lying if I said I saw all that coming," said Stenson.
"I don't know how I am going to be able to top this next year but I am going to give my best in the Majors and if I can become the first male Swedish player to win a Major, that would be the icing on the cake."
Now that he is the European number one, the next logical step would be to aim for the world top spot in the rankings.
"I'm certainly going to keep on trying. It's going to take a lot of good golfing from where I am to reach number one. But I'm going to keep on trying," he said.
"I have been told that everyone who has won the Race to Dubai managed to become the world number one at some stage, so it wouldn't be fair not to try."
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