Rory climbs to ninth

RORY MCILROY has reached a higher position on the world rankings than any other 20-year-old before him.

Even though he did not play last week – and pulled out of the Nedbank Challenge a fortnight ago because of a virus – the Northern Ireland youngster moves up from 11th to ninth.

Tiger Woods holds a 6.66 points lead over Phil Mickelson three days after he announced he was taking an indefinite break from golf to tackle his personal problems.