Colin Montgomerie, who said a month ago that he would be thrilled to climb back into the world's top 10, has already achieved it when this week's official World Rankings were announced.
Montgomerie's victory yesterday in the inaugural TCL Classic in China came just seven days after he shared the Volvo Masters with Bernhard Langer - his first win for 15 months - and moved him up to 10th in the rankings.
Padraig Harrington remains Ireland's highest ranked player at number eight. Earlier in the season the Dubliner had reached a career high of 6th.
Darren Clarke, who was in the top 10 for much of last season, continues to slip somewhat, but has still managed to keep a top 25 spot.
Leading rankings:
1 Tiger Woods 17.88pts,
2 Phil Mickelson 8.55,
3 Ernie Els 7.22,
4 Retief Goosen 6.63,
5 Sergio Garcia 6.48,
6 David Toms 6.25,
7 Vijay Singh 6.21,
8 Padraig Harrington 5.75,
9 Davis Love 5.14,
10 Colin Montgomerie 4.71
Other leading Europeans:
15 Bernhard Langer,
25
Darren Clarke,
31 Thomas Bjorn,
34 Jose Maria Olazabal,
42 Justin Rose