McIlroy more No 1 than ever

World No 1 Rory McIlroyRace to Dubai winner Rory McIlroy has extended his lead over Tiger Woods at the top of the latest world rankings but Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington are further from the top 50.

The 23-year old, whose third-place finish in the Barclays Singapore Open was enough to give him the European money title and the same transatlantic double achieved by Luke Donald last year, is now 3.895 points ahead of Woods.

No-one has won more world ranking points this year than McIlroy (538.98) and Woods (359.07) while Louis Oosthuizen, whose defeat to Matteo Manassero in a playoff in Singapore helped McIlroy win the Race to Dubai, has made the biggest leap in 2012.

The South African, winner of the Open in 2010, has jumped from 40th in the world at the end of last year to a year high of sixth this week.

As for the rest of the Irish, Graeme McDowell tees it up in the Talisker Masters in Melbourne this week bidding to make a positive move up the world rankings after a year that could have been truly spectacular.

While he was the most consistent player in the world in the majors and played in the final group at the Open and the US Open, he has yet to win an event since 2010 and has fallen from 13th in the world at the end of last year to 24th. It’s hardly a drama but he will be keen to finish the year on a high.

There are no other Irish players in the world’s top 50 though Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington still have two more chances to make it by Christmas despite missing the cut in Singapore.

Padraig Harrington is 62nd in the latest world rankings.The end of Lowry’s magical run of form saw him fall four places to world No 60 while Harrington fell one place to 62nd as they head to the UBS Hong Kong Open this week and the DP World Championship in Dubai.

Michael Hoey is the next best of the Irish at 129th in the world - a fall of 27 places from 31 December 2011 - while Darren Clarke’s freefall continues.

The 2011 Open champion is now 139th while Peter Lawrie has fallen out of the world’s top 200 to 201st.

Paul McGiney, who was 472nd at the end of last year, is now 296th with Damien McGrane falling further to 327th, 101 places lower than exactly a year ago.