McDowell, Els move up in golf rankings

McDowell, Els move up in golf rankings

Graeme McDowell and Ernie Els each inched up in the men's world golf rankings, updated Monday.

McDowell pulled into a tie with Phil Mickelson for the No. 4 spot with each golfer averaging 6.238 rankings points. Els is also in a tie, matching Ian Poulter's average of 5.402, which is 10th in the rankings.

Lee Westwood is still No. 1 with an average of 8.829 points, well ahead of No. 2 Tiger Woods (7.315) and third-ranked Martin Kaymer (7.046).

After McDowell and Mickelson, Steve Stricker (6.020) is ranked sixth with Jim Furyk (5.761) in seventh, Paul Casey (5.655) again in eighth and Luke Donald (5.503) ninth ahead of Els and Poulter.

Charl Schwartzel was the biggest gainer in the rankings after he defended his title at the Joburg Open, a Johannesburg stop of the European Tour, Sunday. Schwartzel jumped nine places to No. 23 in the rankings.

Tim Clark, who tied for second at the PGA Tour's Sony Open in Honolulu, reached the Top 20 by moving up seven spots from 27th a week ago.