Graeme McDowell’s US Open victory - the first by a European in the event since Tony Jacklin in 1970 - takes him to a career-high 13th in the world and to second in the Ryder Cup standings.
Only two months ago the 30-year-old Portrush golfer was not even in the top 50 and was in danger of having to qualify for not only Pebble Beach, but also next month’s Open at St Andrews.
Now, however, he has won on his last two starts - the Wales Open at Celtic Manor came two weeks ago - and with his climb today from 37th that makes it seven Europeans in the top 13 of the rankings.
It also means there are three Irishmen in the world’s top 15, with Pádraig Harrington occupying 15th and Rory McIlroy 10th.
Only Lee Westwood is ahead of him in the race for places in Europe’s Ryder Cup team, meaning he is all but guaranteed a spot in Colin Montgomerie’s team to compete at Celtic Manor at the end of August.
The top four in the world rankings are automatically picked, as are the next five in the European points list, meaning, as it stands, McDowell and McIlroy (third) will be on the European team, while it’s hard to fathom Harrington not getting a wild-card pick if he is unable to improve on his current standing of 10th on the list.
Italian Francesco Molinari, who missed the halfway cut at Pebble Beach, is the one to be pushed out of the top nine and he drops to 11th just behind Harrington.
Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:
1 Tiger Woods 10.64pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 9.86, 3 Lee Westwood 8.18, 4 Steve Stricker 7.11, 5 Jim Furyk 6.84, 6 Ernie Els 6.25, 7
Luke Donald 5.61, 8 Paul Casey 5.54, 9 Ian Poulter 5.46, 1 0 Rory McIlroy 5.11
11 Martin Kaymer 4.95, 12 Anthony Kim 4.95, 13 Graeme McDowell 4.79, 14 Robert Allenby 4.53, 15 Pádraig Harrington 4.27, 16 Camilo Villegas 4.13, 17 Retief Goosen 4.04, 18 Zach Johnson 4.03, 19 Geoff Ogilvy 3.84, 20 Tim Clark 3.77
Other leading Europeans:
27 Robert Karlsson, 29 Henrik Stenson, 33 Justin Rose, 36 Sergio Garcia, 37 Alvaro Quiros, 39 Ross Fisher, 40 Edoardo Molinari, 42 Francesco Molinari, 44 Rhys Davies, 45 Peter Hanson, 47 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 59 Oliver Wilson, 64 Soren Kjeldsen, 65 Soren Hansen, 72 Anders Hansen, 74 Simon Dyson, 75 Brian Davis, 80 Ross McGowan, 85 Fredrik Andersson Hed, 86 Chris Wood, 87 Fredrik Jacobson, 93 Alexander Noren, 99 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano
RYDER CUP
WORLD POINTS
1 Lee Westwood 358.7, 2 Graeme McDowell 235.6, 3 Rory McIlroy 224.8, 4 Ian Poulter 206.5, 5 Luke Donald 198.0, 6 Pádraig Harrington 168.8, 7 Martin Kaymer 155.4, 8 Edoardo Molinari 144.7, 9 Justin Rose 137.2, 10 Rhys Davies 131.7
EUROPEAN POINTS
1 Lee Westwood 2,816,325, 2 Ian Poulter 2,157,025, 3 Graeme McDowell 2,135,603, 4 Rory McIlroy 1,462,754, 5 Ross McGowan 1,344,158, 6 Martin Kaymer 1,309,449, 7 Luke Donald 1,104,038, 8 Simon Dyson 1,079,675, 9 Alvaro Quiros 1,058,335, 10 Pádraig Harrington 1,051,233