For the first time in seven months, Tiger Woods has strengthened, not weakened, his position on the official World Golf Rankings list.
Tiger on the charge on Sunday
The longest running World No 1 of all time, Woods has hoisted himself eight places to No 50 in the rankings this week as a result of his bounce-back third place finish at the Emirates Australian Open in Sydney on Sunday.
Woods, who led the first two rounds, but slipped back six shots with a third round 3-over 75, came storming back on Sunday with a 5-under 67 and although it wasn't quite enough to give him his first victory since his last win two years ago at the 2009 Australian Masters, it has edged him back into that critical Top 50 bubble that opens so many doors to golf's biggest tournaments.
The last time Woods moved up in the rankings was on April 10, 2011, after he finished tied for fourth at the Masters.
The 32-year-old winner of 14 majors is playing this week at the Presidents Cup, where no rankings points will be awarded, but he'll get another crack at earning some more World Rankings points at the up-coming Chevron
World Challenge in December which he hosts.
In the meantime Luke Donald continued to keep a tight hold on the No. 1 spot in the World Rankings with Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Steve Stricker rounding out the latest top five.
THE TOP 100 THIS WEEK
1 Luke Donald (Eng) 10.33
2 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 7.55
3 Lee Westwood (Eng) 7.49
4 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 7.00
5 Steve Stricker (USA) 5.91
6 Dustin Johnson (USA) 5.88
7 Jason Day (Aus) 5.58
8 Adam Scott (Aus) 5.58
9 Webb Simpson (USA) 5.26
10 Matt Kuchar (USA) 5.14
11 Nick Watney (USA) 5.13
12 Phil Mickelson (USA) 5.08
13 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 4.83
14 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 4.70
15 K J Choi (Kor) 4.64
16 Justin Rose (Eng) 4.22
17 Bubba Watson (USA) 4.05
18 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 4.04
19 Hunter Mahan (USA) 3.94
20 David Toms (USA) 3.82
21 Paul Casey (Eng) 3.80
22 Bill Haas (USA) 3.68
23 Bo Van Pelt (USA) 3.59
24 Kyung-tae Kim (Kor) 3.59
25 Ian Poulter (Eng) 3.51
26 Keegan Bradley (USA) 3.43
27 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 3.40
28 Rickie Fowler (USA) 3.39
29 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 3.38
30 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 3.37
31 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 3.32
32 Simon Dyson (Eng) 3.32
33 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 3.30
34 Anders Hansen (Den) 3.28
35 Jason Dufner (USA) 3.21
36 Darren Clarke (NIrl) 3.21
37 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 3.14
38 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 3.13
39 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 3.12
40 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 3.07
41 Jim Furyk (USA) 3.02
42 Martin Laird (Sco) 2.99
43 Y.E. Yang (Kor) 2.94
44 Zach Johnson (USA) 2.92
45 John Senden (Aus) 2.92
46 Gary Woodland (USA) 2.91
47 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 2.83
48 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 2.83
49 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 2.81
50 Tiger Woods (USA) 2.79
51 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 2.76
52 Ernie Els (Rsa) 2.74
53 Ben Crane (USA) 2.70
54 Peter Hanson (Swe) 2.67
55 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 2.66
56 Ryan Moore (USA) 2.65
57 Jonathan Byrd (USA) 2.61
58 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 2.44
59 Mark Wilson (USA) 2.40
60 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 2.38
61 Vijay Singh (Fij) 2.32
62 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 2.23
63 Kevin Na (USA) 2.22
64 Lucas Glover (USA) 2.21
65 Alexander Noren (Swe) 2.21
66 Chez Reavie (USA) 2.17
67 Ryan Palmer (USA) 2.15
68 Jeff Overton (USA) 2.14
69 Robert Allenby (Aus) 2.14
70 Anthony Kim (USA) 2.12
71 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 2.09
72 Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 2.06
73 Tim Clark (Rsa) 2.05
74 Charles Howell III (USA) 2.04
75 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 2.04
76 Sean O'Hair (USA) 2.03
77 Charley Hoffman (USA) 2.02
78 Camilo Villegas (Col) 1.98
79 Scott Verplank (USA) 1.93
80 Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 1.88
81 Spencer Levin (USA) 1.85
82 Richard Green (Aus) 1.84
83 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 1.83
84 Ross Fisher (Eng) 1.82
85 Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 1.82
86 Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 1.81
87 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 1.81
88 Chris Kirk (USA) 1.81
89 Steve Marino (USA) 1.81
90 Tommy Gainey (USA) 1.81
91 J.B. Holmes (USA) 1.80
92 Brendan Jones (Aus) 1.79
93 Joost Luiten (Ned) 1.77
94 David Lynn (Eng) 1.76
95 George Coetzee (Rsa) 1.74
96 Robert Garrigus (USA) 1.73
97 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 1.71
98 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 1.70
99 Koumei Oda (Jpn) 1.70
100 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 1.68
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