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Golf's world rankings are all wrong - they must be.

This seemed to be the verdict stateside after .

Of course, tournament in South Carolina it would have been another Englishman celebrating becoming world number one.

Westwood and Donald do not have a single major between them, therefore the rankings must be flawed, say the critics. How can the best player in the world be regarded as such without winning one of the game's four biggest prizes?

"I think there's something wrong with the system," opined the respected Florida Times Union golf man Garry Smits. Meanwhile, the Charlotte Observer observed: "I don't know how the world rankings work, No. 1 is getting traded like bad stock."

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One of golf's most influential voices is calling for more transparency in disciplinary procedures when players step out of line.

Chief Executive of the Royal and Ancient, Peter Dawson, believes the leading tours should consider publishing details of punishments handed out to golfers for breaches of disciplinary codes.

At the moment the European Tour and in particular the PGA Tour do not routinely allow into the public domain information regarding fines or bans they have imposed.

Tiger Woods was fined for spitting at this year's Dubai Desert Classic but the decision to issue a statement to announce that he had been punished was only made because of the publicity the incident had already generated.

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Augusta

Rory McIlroy untucked his shirt, tucked it back in again and, continuing to fidget, seemed unsure what to do next. His complexion was ashen and sweat poured from his brow as he prepared to tee off in the final group at a major for the first time in his young career.

On the range, the 21-year-old from Northern Ireland had laughed and joked with caddie JP Fitzgerald as he dispatched ball after ball with crisp accuracy.

But McIlroy was not ready to win a major. His nervous demeanour on that first tee was telling. The confidence of the first three days was no longer coursing through his veins.

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Surely this will be Europe's year. How can the continent's 12-year Augusta drought stretch any further with the abundance of talent it has brought to this year's Masters?

This is the popular theory, anyway. After all there's the German world number one, who won the most recent major, the Englishman just behind him in the rankings, the US Open champion from Northern Ireland and a whole host of talent champing at the major bit.

It is a well-founded theory that a Martin Kaymer, a Lee Westwood, a Graeme McDowell or for that matter any of the dozen or so Europeans who currently reside in the world's top 25 can be the one to don the 2011 Green Jacket in the Butler Cabin.

But it may not happen. This time next week, it may be the case that is still the last European to win a Masters.

Never mind the European threat, the always dangerous South Africans, the Aussies capable of breaking their own Masters duck (the one that lasts forever) and the Asian challengers - because there's every chance that the title could stay in the USA.

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When bogeyed the first two holes of his second round at the Houston Open, a weekend off to recharge the batteries ahead of his Masters defence looked a real possibility.

Ultimately that unwanted prospect was snuffed out and the cut was made comfortably enough, but there was little on his scorecard to suggest Mickelson was going to gain much more than a gentle weekend workout, his second round 70 having left him in a share of 33rd place; with his only birdies (and an eagle) coming on the Redstone Course's par fives.

But watching him go about his business, there was definitely something about his manner that indicated Mickelson magic might be ready to surface.

There was a bounce to his lope over the Houston fairways, suggesting he was excited by the thought of returning to what has become his spiritual golfing home, the Augusta National and this rejuvenation was manifested in .

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