Golf:Graeme McDowell's final day heroics in the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii over the weekend have left him poised to take the world number four spot off Phil Mickelson.
The US Open champion fired a course record-equalling 62 in the final round over the Plantation Course at the Kapaula Resort to narrowly miss out on a place in the play-off by just one shot.
It left the 31-year-old on 24-under, one shot behind the American pair of Robert Garrigus and Jonathan Byrd before the latter won his fifth PGA Tour title at the second hole of sudden-death.
Nevertheless, McDowell’s efforts means the gap between himself and Mickelson, fourth in the latest world rankings, is down to just 0.09 points. In this sort of form McDowell appears destined to move a step closer to that number one spot - still held by England’s Lee Westwood.
McDowell will take this week off and recharge the batteries instead of teeing it up in the Joburg Open in Johannesburg, the fourth and final event in a South African swing over the festive period and start of the new year.
Instead McDowell will tee it up in the Abu Dhabi Championship in a fortnight before taking a well-earned break then building up to the US Masters at Augusta in April.
Byrd made a big leap up the standings, from 121st to 58th, while Ian Poulter’s tied sixth finish in Hawaii moved the English golfer back inside the top 10.
Tiger Woods remains Westwood’s closest challenger in second with Martin Kaymer third and Mickelson and McDowell next in line.
Rory McIlroy took time out back home in Belfast last week and dropped from 10th to 12th in the latest rankings, while Pádraig Harrington is now 26th in the world. Yesterday’s Africa Open winner Louis Oosthuizen is inside the top 20 at 19th
Darren Clarke made his usual early season jaunt to South Africa in a bid to improve his world ranking but a tied 26th finish at East London Golf Club on the Eastern Cape dropped him eight places to 108th. He is closely followed by Peter Lawrie (110th) and Gareth Maybin (119th).
Latest World Rankings:
(Irish in bold)
1 Lee Westwood 8.97pts, 2 Tiger Woods 7.50, 3 Martin Kaymer 7.03, 4 Phil Mickelson 6.39, 5 Graeme McDowell 6.30, 6 Steve Stricker 6.01, 7 Jim Furyk 6.00, 8 Paul Casey 5.65, 9 Luke Donald 5.48, 10 Ian Poulter 5.48 11 Ernie Els 5.46, 12 Rory McIlroy 5.40, 13 Matt Kuchar 4.69, 14 Dustin Johnson 4.50, 15 Retief Goosen 4.38, 16 Francesco Molinari 4.30, 17 Robert Karlsson 4.26, 18 Edoardo Molinari 4.09, 19 Louis Oosthuizen 4.02, 20 Hunter Mahan 3.87
Selected others:
24 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 26 Pádraig Harrington, 30 Justin Rose, 34 Ross Fisher, 41 Peter Hanson, 49 Martin Laird, 50 Alvaro Quiros, 54 Henrik Stenson, 62 Matteo Manassero, 65 Simon Dyson, 70 Rhys Davies, 71 Anders Hansen, 72 Fredrik Andersson Hed, 74 Danny Willett, 77 Brian Davis, 79 Sergio Garcia, 86 Carl Pettersson, 87 Chris Wood, 88 Soren Kjeldsen, 90 David Horsey, 92 Oliver Wilson, 94 Stephen Gallacher, 96 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 98 Raphael Jacquelin, 100 Joost Luiten 108 Darren Clarke, 110 Peter Lawrie, 119 Gareth Maybin
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