Now only Luke Donald stands in Rory McIlroy‘s way of reaching the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. After his T-4 finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions, the Ulsterman passed Lee Westwood for the second spot in the ranking.
McIlroy said in September that one of his goals for 2012 is to become the top player in the ranking. He trails Donald by 2.96 points as he will take two weeks off before the final run to the European Tour’s season-ending Dubai World Championship.
Martin Kaymer, winner of the Shanghai event, improved to fourth from sixth. Dustin Johnson and Steve Stricker slid down a spot to accommodate the German winner in China. Aussies Jason Day and Adam Scott remained at seventh and eighth, respectively. Webb Simpson fell to 10th, swapping with Matt Kuchar for ninth.
Idle Tiger Woods enters this week’s Australian Open at 58th in the world ranking, having dropped another two spots.