World Golf Rankings: Pádraig Harrington's second missed cut of the season has seen the Dubliner slip one place in the last world rankings. The Dubliner is replaced at number three by Phil Mickelson who held his nerve to successfully defend the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.
Harrington, who will visit the influential sports psychologist Bob Rotella in an attempt to regain his focus before Wednesday’s WGC Accenture Matchplay Championship, has endured a difficult start to the new season and has struggled for any kind of consistency.
Mickelson has also had his troubles this year, and appeared to be throwing away the title yesterday before finding his touch coming down the stretch.
Four clear with a round to go and flying when he began with an eagle, Mickelson then had four bogeys to trail Steve Stricker by two with three to play. But, while Stricker bogeyed the last, he birdied the 16th and 17th to claim his 35th US Tour victory and with it moved up two places in the rankings.
The left-hander is only 2.22 points behind Tiger Woods and could overtake him in the next month — but this is the week when Woods ends his eight-month injury lay-off.
New Zealand amateur Danny Lee, meanwhile, has improved 403 places to 159th after becoming the youngest player and only the second amateur to win a European Tour event.
The 18-year-old US Amateur champion, who will turn professional after The Masters in April, birdied four of the last six holes to capture the Johnnie Walker Classic by one shot in Perth.
Latest leading positions:
1 Tiger Woods 9.61pts, 2 Sergio Garcia 7.87, 3 Phil Mickelson 7.39, 4 Pádraig Harrington 7.39, 5 Vijay Singh 6.13, 6 Henrik Stenson 5.11, 7 Robert Karlsson 5.08, 8 Geoff Ogilvy 5.00, 9 Kenny Perry 4.74, 10 Camilo Villegas 4.71
11 Anthony Kim 4.45, 12 Lee Westwood 4.40, 13 Steve Stricker 4.23, 14 Ernie Els 4.13, 15 Jim Furyk 3.88, 16 Justin Rose 3.82, 17 Rory McIlroy 3.78, 18 Adam Scott 3.77, 19 Mike Weir 3.72, 20 KJ Choi 3.69
Other leading Europeans:
21 Martin Kaymer, 23 Paul Casey, 24 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 25 Alvaro Quiros, 31 Luke Donald, 34 Ian Poulter, 38 Ross Fisher, 39 Graeme McDowell, 45 Oliver Wilson, 49 Anders Hansen, 53 Soren Hansen, 60 Peter Hanson, 61 Soren Kjeldsen, 71 Carl Pettersson, 74 Darren Clarke, 76 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 82 Francesco Molinari, 83 Anthony Wall, 85 Gareth Maybin, 87 Fredrik Jacobson, 91 Alexander Noren, 94 Nick Dougherty
