Justin Rose’s superb victory at the weekend in the BMW Championship has elevated the Englishman to first place in the Ryder Cup World Points List and back into the top 20 of the Official World Ranking for the first time since July 2010.
The win, in the third instalment of the FedExCup series, represents Rose’s tenth professional title and his excellent showing at Cog Hill, Illinois, Chicago, was worth 63 Ranking Points, propelling himself 23 places up the Ranking, from 40th up to 17th.
Rose will be hoping for similar success back in Illinois next September after his win also moved him to the head of the embryonic Ryder Cup World Points List on 66 points, as he vies to make José Maria Olazábal’s side for The 2012 Ryder Cup in Medinah, on the outskirts of Chicago, next September.
Rose narrowly missed out on the Team that defeated the United States at The Celtic Manor Resort in 2010, but has previous Ryder Cup form to draw upon.
The South African born Rose made his maiden Ryder Cup appearance in 2008 at Valhalla, earning three points for Team Europe including a memorable singles day victory against Phil Mickelson, and he will be more determined than ever to secure an automatic spot on the plane back to Chicago, next autumn.
Once again, European Tour Members occupy the top four spaces in the World Ranking, with Steve Stricker and Dustin Johnson slipping back down the Rankings meaning Martin Kaymer moves back to fourth, rejoining Rory McIlroy (third), Lee Westwood (second) and Luke Donald (first) at the summit of world golf.
One man continuing to go the wrong way in the World Ranking is former World Number One Tiger Woods, who is incredibly in danger of dropping out of the top 50 after falling to 49th place.
