Dustin Johnson returned to the top of the world rankings despite not playing at this week’s Honda Classic at PGA National.
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The American, who won his sixth WGC title in Mexico two weeks ago, returns to the top for the first time since finishing third at the FedExCup-ending Tour Championship, with Justin Rose also absent from the PGA TOUR this week.
The rankings yo-yo is set to continue through the rest of the season with Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka both having a good shot at displacing DJ after this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Rose needs to finish eighth or better, while Koepka, runner-up this week, must win to move from third to first.
Rickie Fowler, who like Koepka finished one short of Keith Mitchell (162 to 68th), caused a reshuffle in the top 10 as he moved up to seventh behind Rory McIlroy.
Xander Schaufele and Jon Rahm each dropped a place and moved to eighth and ninth respectively, with Francesco Molinari remaining in 10th.
Louis Oosthuizen did not play this week, but moved back to his 2019 starting position after a two-place climb to 25th. Another Saffa not in action this week, Branden Grace, remains in 41st place and is still SA’s second-highest ranked player.
Richard Sterne moved past Brandon Stone as the seventh-highest ranked Saffa after Stone failed to build on a solid 36-hole total at the Oman Open.
