England's Lee Westwood has moved into the world number three position for the first time in his career.
Englishman edges above Stricker to career-high ranking
England's Lee Westwood has moved into the world number three position for the first time in his career.
Despite not competing last week, the Englishman has climbed above Steve Stricker and now - entering this week's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the flagship event of the European Tour - he has only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson ahead of him.
Westwood reached number four in the world back in 2001, but then suffered a nightmare slump and tumbled down to below 250 in the world.
After signalling a return to form with two wins in 2003, he had to wait another four years for his next success, but last season regained the European merit order crown for the first time since 2000 as he won the inaugural Race to Dubai.
Westwood has still yet to claim a first major crown, but has come within a whisker repeatedly over the past couple of years - his latest near-miss coming in the Masters last month where led after 36 and 54 holes, but was overtaken on the final day by Mickelson.
Meanwhile, Australian Adam Scott's victory in the Texas Open on Sunday has seen him rise from 43rd to 36th in the rankings, while Swede Peter Hanson is up to 45th courtesy of his play-off triumph at the Mallorca Open.
If Hanson manages to stay in the top 50 for another week he will earn an exemption for next month's US Open and avoid Monday's qualifier at Walton Heath.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:
1 Tiger Woods 10.79, 2 Phil Mickelson 9.53, 3 Lee Westwood 7.71, 4 Steve Stricker 7.69, 5 Jim Furyk 6.93, 6 Ian Poulter 6.01, 7 Ernie Els 5.83, 8 Paul Casey 5.68, 9 Rory McIlroy 5.37, 10 Anthony Kim 5.08, 11 Martin Kaymer 5.00, 12 Robert Allenby 4.78, 13 Padraig Harrington 4.46, 14 Camilo Villegas 4.43, 15 Retief Goosen 4.16, 16 Geoff Ogilvy 4.09, 17 Hunter Mahan 4.03, 18 Luke Donald 3.97, 19 YE Yang 3.86, 20 Lucas Glover 3.85
Other leading Europeans:
21 Henrik Stenson, 30 Sergio Garcia, 31 Alvaro Quiros, 33 Robert Karlsson, 35 Ross Fisher, 38 Edoardo Molinari, 39 Francesco Molinari, 40 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 45 Peter Hanson, 48 Oliver Wilson, 50 Graeme McDowell, 53 Soren Hansen, 55 Soren Kjeldsen, 58 Anders Hansen, 67 Justin Rose, 69 Simon Dyson, 71 Ross McGowan, 75 Rhys Davies, 79 Alexander Noren, 83 Chris Wood, 84 Fredrik Jacobson, 86 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 95 Shane Lowry, 99 Gregory Bourdy
