Dustin Johnson returned to the top of the world rankings despite not playing at this week’s Honda Classic at PGA National.
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The American, who won his sixth WGC title in Mexico two weeks ago, returns to the top for the first time since finishing third at FedExCup-ending Tour Championship with Justin Rose also absent from the PGA TOUR this week.
The rankings yo-yo is set to continue through the rest of the season with Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka both having a good shot at displacing DJ after this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Rose needs to finish eighth or better while Koepka, runner-up this week, must win to move from third to first.
Rickie Fowler, who like Koepka finished one short of Keith Mitchell (162 to 68th), caused a reshuffle in the top 10 as he moved up to seventh behind Rory McIlroy.
Xander Schaufele and Jon Rahm each dropped a place and moved to eighth and ninth respectively with Francesco Molinari remaining in 10th.
Louis Oosthuizen did not play this week but moved back to his 2019 starting position after a two-place climb to 25th. Another Saffa not in acton this week, Branden Grace, remains in 41st place and SA’s second highest ranked player.
Richard Sterne moved past Brandon Stone as the seventh highest ranked Saffa after Stone failed to build on a solid 36-hole total at the Oman Open.