Win vaults Merrick inside top 100 of latest world ranking

• By Will Gray
• Feb 18, 2013 7:52 AM ET

After surviving a two-hole playoff at the Northern Trust Open to record his first PGA Tour victory, John Merrick was the biggest mover in this week's update of the official world golf rankings.

Entering the week at No. 241 in the world, Merrick's playoff win over Charlie Beljan vaulted him to No. 74 on the latest list, an increase of 167 positions. With his runner-up finish, Beljan moved up 87 spots to 64th in the world, a position that one week ago would have qualified him for this week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

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Though he may still be mulling a 4-foot miss on the 72nd hole that kept him out of the playoff at Riviera, Fredrik Jacobson can take solace in his move to 47th in the world, a 19-spot jump that greatly improved his seed for this week's event at Dove Mountain. Josh Teater, who began the 2013 season ranked outside the top 200, has now moved up to No. 106 after a T-6 finish at Riviera on the heels of a runner-up finish a few weeks ago at Torrey Pines.

Among the top-ranked players, the largest move was made by Charl Schwartzel, who jumped five spots to No. 11 following his tie for third place Sunday. The top 10 remained virtually unchanged, though Louis Oosthuizen did jump Justin Rose from No. 5 to No. 4 - although neither player competed last week - and Phil Mickelson moved up one spot to No. 9, trading places with Bubba Watson.