World number three Luke Donald put himself firmly in contention as Bae Sang-moon and Fredrik Jacobson shared the lead at the halfway stage of the Northern Trust Open in California.

Phil Mickelson is back in the world’s top 10 for the first time since last May after his wire-to-wire victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia end the year 14th and 16th in the world respectively after their weekend wins in South Africa and Malaysia.

Graeme McDowell’s victory at the World Challenge in California – his first title since the same event two years ago – has lifted him from 24th to 14th in the world.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry has moved up from 128th to 74th in the world after his victory at the Portugal Masters yesterday.

Rory McIlroy is back as world number one after storming to his second major victory at the USPGA Championship – and David Lynn is up from 98th to a career-high 40th after finishing as a shock runner-up.

Graeme McDowell was California dreaming again after moving into a tie for the lead with Jim Furyk with a round to go at the United States Open.

Golf’s world number one spot has changed hands for the fifth time in just over two months.

A total of 9,006 golfers, just 80 short of the record, have entered this year’s US Open, the event at which Rory McIlroy last year became the youngest champion since amateur Bobby Jones in 1923.

Lee Westwood’s successful defence of the Indonesian Masters title was not enough to lift him above Rory McIlroy at the top of the golf world rankings.

Matt Every shot a new course record to take a three-shot lead after the opening round of the Valero Texas Open last night.

Bubba Watson moved all the way from 16th to a career-high fourth in the world rankings thanks to his play-off victory over Louis Oosthuizen in The Masters.

Hunter Mahan has climbed from 22nd to ninth in the world after capturing the Accenture Match Play Championship by beating Rory McIlroy in the final.

Luke Donald is set to start his Accenture Match Play title defence against former world number one Ernie Els in Tucson on Wednesday.

England’s Robert Rock is up from 117th to 55th in the world after his victory over Tiger Woods and golf’s top four in Abu Dhabi.

Padraig Harrington will need to climb to 65th in the world rather than 64th to earn a place in next month’s Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

Rory McIlroy seized on a series of unexpected errors by Luke Donald today and reignited his bid for the European Tour number one title.

Rory McIlroy lost a ball with only his fifth shot of the day and was left with a mountain to climb at the Dubai World Championship today.

Rory McIlroy has endured a topsy turvy start to the Dubai World Championship to stand at one under par, six shots off Paul Lawrie's clubhouse lead.

Ireland's Shane Lowry is just four off the lead, on three under with two to play, of Paul Lawrie who leads on seven under in the clubhouse.

Shane Lowry is just three off the lead on day one of the Dubai World Championships while Peter Lawrie is one over after 13 and Rory McIlroy tees off latter.

Tiger Woods has climbed back up to 21st in the world rankings after finally ending more than two years without a victory.

THE sight of Santa Claus at a golf tournament is very timely for the six Irish contesting this week’s season penultimate UBS Hong Kong Open.

Tiger Woods returns to action in the Australian Open this week down at 58th in the world – just one year after losing the number one spot to Lee Westwood.

RORY McILROY’S last-hole birdie in the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai has taken him to a career-high second in the world.

Martin Kaymer vowed to give Race to Dubai leader Luke Donald a hard time after cutting his advantage in the European money list with victory at the lucrative WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai today.

Some spectacular putting today swept Swede Fredrik Jacobson into a two-shot lead with a round to go at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

Europe’s Ryder Cup race could well be led on Sunday night by a player who has appeared in the continent just three times in the past five seasons.

KEEGAN BRADLEY has not stopped pinching himself all year — and he was at it again yesterday after taking the lead in the final world championship of the season.

Sergio Garcia has climbed from 31st to 18th in the world following his second successive victory at the Andalucia Masters.

Tiger Woods has dropped another three places to 36th in the latest world rankings.

Tiger Woods, expected to announce later this week that he is returning to action at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday week, is out of the world’s top 20 for the first time since January 1997.

American Jerry Kelly slumped to four over par in the early stages of the 140th Open Championship today – but was still on course to better his previous trip to Sandwich.

FREDRIK JACOBSON accomplished a lot of firsts on Sunday.

Irish golfer Rory McIlroy has climbed to third in the golf world rankings after his runaway victory at the US Open last week.

Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson finished one stroke ahead of Ryan Moore and John Rollins at the Travelers Championship to claim his maiden win on the PGA Tour today.

Michael Bradley held a one-stroke lead after a first day of the Travelers Championship on which only just over three-and-a-half hours’ play was possible due to thunderstorms.

A seemingly unstoppable Rory McIlroy extended his lead from eight to 10 as the US Open remained a one-man show at Congressional today.

Rory McIlroy increased his lead to seven strokes, but it was much harder work than the 22-year-old was hoping for at the start of his US Open third round today.

Luke Donald took a leaf out of Rory McIlroy’s book at the US Open today – but only by double-bogeying the last hole.

Just three weeks after meeting in a play-off to decide not only the BMW PGA Championship but also the world number one spot, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood will clash again in the first two rounds of the US Open at Congressional this coming week.

Sergio Garcia survived a seven-man play-off last night to earn a place in next week’s US Open.

BRENDAN STEELE led from start to finish on the final day of the Valero Texas Open to claim his maiden PGA Tour title.

Tiger Woods admitted he could not force his way into contention for the Farmers Insurance Open title as Phil Mickelson grabbed a share of the lead with Bill Haas at Torrey Pines.