Golf:Tiger Woods's 75th PGA Tour title - an amazing eight of them at Torrey Pines - has taken a sizeable chunk out of Rory McIlroy's lead at the top of the world rankings.
McIlroy has held the number one spot since his USPGA Championship victory last August, but his advantage is now down to 3.14 points and could narrow further before he next plays at the WGC-Accenture Match Play in Arizona on February 20th.
Chris Wood’s maiden European Tour win at the Qatar Masters moves the Englishman up from 142nd to 60th. The top 64 at the end of next week earn places in Tucson.
Graeme McDowell slips down a place to 18th, while Pádraig Harrington is down two places to 52nd. Shane Lowry completes the Irish contingent in the top 100, slipping three places to 62nd. The Offaly golfer will be looking to move up to the top 50 in a bid to secure an invitation to the Masters in April.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:
1 Rory McIlroy 12.43pts, 2 Tiger Woods 9.29, 3 Luke Donald 7.94, 4 Justin Rose 6.63, 5 Louis Oosthuizen 6.60, 6 Adam Scott 6.08, 7 Brandt Snedeker 5.74, 8 Lee Westwood 5.69, 9 Bubba Watson 5.26, 10 Jason Dufner 5.15, 11 Steve Stricker 5.05, 12 Ian Poulter 4.99, 13 Keegan Bradley 4.91, 14 Sergio Garcia 4.82, 15 Dustin Johnson 4.77, 16 Webb Simpson 4.77, 17 Charl Schwartzel 4.62, 18 Graeme McDowell 4.56, 19 Nick Watney 4.54, 20 Peter Hanson 4.52
Other leading Europeans:
27 Martin Kaymer, 30 Jamie Donaldson, 32 Paul Lawrie, 33 Carl Pettersson, 34 Francesco Molinari, 35 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 37 Nicolas Colsaerts, 43 Thorbjorn Olesen, 44 Matteo Manassero, 48 Thomas Bjorn, 49 Alexander Noren, 50 David Lynn, 51 Henrik Stenson, 52 Pádraig Harrington, 56 Rafael Cabrera Bello, 57 Richie Ramsay, 60 Chris Wood, 61 Marcel Siem, 62 Shane Lowry, 64 Bernd Wiesberger, 65 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 66 Anders Hansen, 68 Fredrik Jacobson, 69 Scott Jamieson, 74 Simon Dyson, 79 Jonas Blixt, 81 Martin Laird, 83 Kristoffer Broberg, 84 Danny Willett, 93 Pablo Larrazabal, 98 Joost Luiten, 99 Fredrik Andersson Hed.
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