Rory McIlroy will have been over the moon on Sunday at seeing a childhood dream become a reality before his 23rd birthday on May 4.
Luke Donald - drops to No 2 after 40 weeks at No 1
But with all the good news there was also some sobering news for him.
The good news of course, was the fact that his two shot victory at the Honda Classic at PGA National in Florida elevated him to the top of the World Rankings list for the first time and made him the second youngest World No 1 after Tiger Woods.
The sobering news was the fact that the Tiger seems to be rapidly regaining the kind of form that made him golf's most dominant figure of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries and moved him up five more places to No 16 in the World after the spectacular catch-up 62 on Sunday that earned him a tie for second place at the Honda, and could very well see him making more charges at McIlroy's new crown in the coming months.
Donald loses his World No 1 ranking after a solid spell of 40 weeks on the throne as Woods looks to regain it after holding the title for 623 weeks before losing it to Lee Westwood in October 2010.
Next longest surviving World No 1s were Greg Norman, who held the crown for 331 weeks, Nick Faldo (97 weeks) and Seve Ballesteros (61 weeks)
Westwood, despite shooting a 63 on Sunday to finish just one shot behind Woods, remains at World No 3 this week behind the descending Donald, who took the week off, and Martin Kaymer, who is still at World No 4 to ensure Europe retains its strong presence on the World Rankings list.
Four Americans were also among the top 10 on the latest World Rankings list, but after Steve Stricker and Webb Simpson at Nos 5 and 6 respectively, Dustin Johnson (No 8) and Hunter Mahan (No 10) are sharing the last four places with Australian Jason Day (No 7) and South African Charl Schwartzel (No 9).
TOP 100
Here are the latest Top 100 on the latest World Rankings list which was up-dated on Monday, March 5
1 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 9.29
2 Luke Donald (Eng) 8.97
3 Lee Westwood (Eng) 8.19
4 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 6.02
5 Steve Stricker (USA) 5.71
6 Webb Simpson (USA) 5.07
7 Jason Day (Aus) 5.03
8 Dustin Johnson (USA) 5.02
9 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 4.99
10 Hunter Mahan (USA) 4.97
11 Adam Scott (Aus) 4.96
12 Phil Mickelson (USA) 4.96
13 Bill Haas (USA) 4.62
14 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.56
15 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 4.40
16 Tiger Woods (USA) 4.40
17 Nick Watney (USA) 4.36
18 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 4.09
19 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 4.07
20 Keegan Bradley (USA) 4.06
21 K J Choi (Kor) 4.01
22 Justin Rose (Eng) 3.71
23 Bubba Watson (USA) 3.60
24 Mark Wilson (USA) 3.53
25 Ian Poulter (Eng) 3.40
26 Paul Casey (Eng) 3.38
27 Peter Hanson (Swe) 3.34
28 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 3.32
29 David Toms (USA) 3.29
30 Bo Van Pelt (USA) 3.28
31 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 3.28
32 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 3.26
33 Simon Dyson (Eng) 3.26
34 Martin Laird (Sco) 3.20
35 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 3.20
36 Rickie Fowler (USA) 3.11
37 Anders Hansen (Den) 3.09
38 John Senden (Aus) 3.09
39 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 3.07
40 Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 3.07
41 Jason Dufner (USA) 3.05
42 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 3.04
43 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 2.97
44 Paul Lawrie (Sco) 2.96
45 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 2.92
46 Ben Crane (USA) 2.81
47 Zach Johnson (USA) 2.81
48 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 2.77
49 Kyle Stanley (USA) 2.76
50 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 2.71
51 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 2.70
52 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 2.67
53 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 2.57
54 Jonathan Byrd (USA) 2.56
55 Y.E. Yang (Kor) 2.56
56 Darren Clarke (NIrl) 2.48
57 Robert Rock (Eng) 2.44
58 Gary Woodland (USA) 2.40
59 Greg Chalmers (Aus) 2.32
60 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 2.29
61 Jim Furyk (USA) 2.27
62 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 2.22
63 Robert Allenby (Aus) 2.20
64 Kevin Na (USA) 2.18
65 Ernie Els (Rsa) 2.14
66 George Coetzee (Rsa) 2.11
67 Spencer Levin (USA) 2.11
68 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 2.10
69 Charles Howell III (USA) 2.10
70 Ryan Moore (USA) 2.09
71 Joost Luiten (Ned) 2.04
72 Johnson Wagner (USA) 2.04
73 Sean O'Hair (USA) 1.97
74 Alexander Noren (Swe) 1.95
75 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 1.94
76 Chez Reavie (USA) 1.94
77 Vijay Singh (Fij) 1.94
78 Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 1.93
79 Lucas Glover (USA) 1.89
80 Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 1.87
81 Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 1.84
82 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 1.83
83 Ryan Palmer (USA) 1.80
84 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 1.78
85 Frazar Harrison (USA) 1.76
86 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 1.74
87 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 1.71
88 Jeff Overton (USA) 1.70
89 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 1.69
90 Robert Garrigus (USA) 1.67
91 D.A. Points (USA) 1.67
92 Branden Grace (Rsa) 1.66
93 Gregory Havret (Fra) 1.66
94 David Lynn (Eng) 1.66
95 Michael Hoey (NIrl) 1.61
96 Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 1.59
97 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 1.58
98 Bryce Molder (USA) 1.58
99 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 1.56
100 Michael Thompson (USA) 1.56
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