Westwood enjoys new No 1 status with 66 in Shanghai

Westwood, who on Monday ended Tiger Woods's 281-week reign at the top of golf's rankings, fired seven birdies and a bogey in his six-under-par effort at Sheshan International GC to stay hot on the heels of Ryder Cup team-mate Molinari.

While Woods's well-documented off-course problems may have contributed to the American's decline, Westwood's place at the pinnacle of the game is reward for a consistent couple of years that have seen the Worksop pro also come agonisingly close to landing his first major.

"It's nice to go out there and show everybody that there is a particular reason why I got to that stage. I think I did that today," said Westwood, who holds a two-stroke advantage over Woods with Phil Mickelson and Martin Kaymer – the two other players who can supplant him as No 1 with victory this weekend – a shot and four shots further back respectively.

"The target was just to go out there and enjoy myself and see what happened.

"But I was pleased with the way I hit it despite not having played a lot."

Westwood has also been hampered by ankle and calf injuries this season that had kept him sidelined for almost a month, making his achievement all the more impressive.

"My ankle's better, and my calf feels about 85 to 90 per cent there," said Westwood.

"As the round goes on, it starts to ache and I start to feel like I'm losing my control and power.

"But it's there. I've still got the power in it, something which I didn't have a few weeks back.

"I can still sort of mentally do that and keep control of my swing," he added.

Molinari just edged out the Englishman at the top of the leaderboard after picking up three shots over his opening nine holes before chipping in for a three at the third, which sparked a run of four consecutive birdie.

The Italian said: "I know the scoring was a bit lower than what most people had expected but most importantly, I played well and putted well."

Japan's Yuta Ikeda, Swede Henrik Stenson and Korean Noh Seung-yul are tied for third on five under following rounds of 67 while Sheffield's Danny Willett endured a frustrating return to action after a month out with a rib fracture, the 23-year-old having two double bogeys and a triple in a five-over-par 77.