World Rankings: Pádraig Harrington remains at number three in the latest world rankings but the Dubliner's sensational US PGA Championship triumph last night has seen him close the gap on second placed Phil Mickelson.
Harrington became the first European winner of back-to-back majors when his steely determination over the closing stretch saw him hold off the challenge of Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis to claim the Wanamaker Trophy at Oakland Hills.
He also became the first European to win the tournament in 78 years, following in the footsteps of Scottish-born Tommy Armour.
Harrington has now closed the gap on Mickelson to 2.02 average points and is 1.72 points ahead of Garcia. Curtis returns to the world top 50 with a 40 spot jump to 37 and earns a spot on the US Ryder Cup team.
"Obviously things like that will take time to sink in," Harrington explained last night when it was pointed out that not even the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sandy Lyle and Nick Faldo had managed consecutive major wins. "At the moment, I'm just enjoying the PGA win for the PGA win.
"I really do like the fact that no other European has won two majors consecutively, though, because obviously I hold a lot of European players who I grew up watching in high esteem.
"To believe that I achieved something that they hadn't is very special."
Garcia insisted he was not disappointed after seeing another major victory slip from his grasp and again into the hands of Harrington, a year after he had been beaten in a play-off at the 2007 Open at Carnoustie.
The finish was also his third runner-up finish at a major following his second place behind Tiger Woods at the 1999 US PGA and his 14th top-10 finish at a major.
"Why are you making this a disappointment?" Garcia asked reporters. "Obviously I was trying to win, but that's it. It's not disappointing. Every time you're out there trying to win a major. What can you do, there can only be one winner. I'm fine."
Latest World Rankings:
1 Tiger Woods 18.36pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 9.87, 3 Padraig Harrington 7.85, 4 Sergio Garcia 6.13, 5 Vijay Singh 5.63, 6 Henrik Stenson 5.31, 7 Ernie Els 5.24, 8 Stewart Cink 5.13, 9 Geoff Ogilvy 5.12, 10 Steve Stricker 5.07, 11 Adam Scott 5.01, 12 Justin Rose 4.84, 13 Jim Furyk 4.73, 14 Lee Westwood 4.70, 15 Anthony Kim 4.60, 16 KJ Choi 4.59, 17 Kenny Perry 4.34, 18 Trevor Immelman, 19 Rory Sabbatini 3.99, 20 Miguel Angel Jimenez 3.97.
Other leading Europeans:
21 Robert Karlsson, 22 Luke Donald, 23 Ian Poulter, 30 Graeme McDowell, 35 Paul Casey, 41 Martin Kaymer, 45 Soren Hansen, 47 Fredrik Jacobson, 48 Oliver Wilson, 52 Niclas Fasth, 53 Ross Fisher, 56 Anders Hansen, 71 Carl Pettersson, 73 Nick Dougherty, 83 Alastair Forsyth, 86 Soren Kjeldsen, 87 Colin Montgomerie, 88 Daniel Chopra, 89 Peter Hanson, 90 Darren Clarke, 100 Steve Webster.
