Each week, GolfChannel.com takes a look at the players who made moves up - and down - the various ranking systems in the world of golf.
Here’s a look at this week’s Biggest Movers, as an Englishman experiences a major breakthrough and a veteran makes a big jump after finishing second:
- Danny Willett’s three-shot win at the Masters earned him his first green jacket. It also moved him up three spots to No. 9 in the Official World Golf Ranking, the highest mark of his career.
- WIllett was already in line for a likely Olympic berth, but he has now overtaken Justin Rose for the first of two spots representing Great Britain in Rio.
- Willett also now tops both the world points list and the European points list for the upcoming Ryder Cup, making him a lock to don the blue and yellow this fall at Hazeltine.
- After sharing second place, Lee Westwood surged 32 spots to No. 35 in the latest world rankings, his best standing since last year’s PGA Championship.
- Westwood also moved within two points of Belgium’s Thomas Pieters for the fifth and final qualifying spot via the world points list as he looks to make his 10th straight Ryder Cup team.
- WIth a T-7 finish at Augusta National, Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen moved up to No. 21 on the latest projected Olympic standings, essentially locking up a trip to Brazil this summer.
- Jordan Spieth (T-2) and Dustin Johnson (T-4) both distanced themselves atop the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. Spieth has more than double the points of every other player but Johnson, while DJ is more than a million points ahead of Bubba Watson in third.
- J.B. Holmes made the biggest Ryder Cup surge for the Americans, moving from 13th to the eighth (and final) qualifying position after a T-4 finish, bumping out Patrick Reed in the process.
- Following one week outside the OWGR top 100, Keegan Bradley (No. 97) and Hunter Mahan (No. 100) both snuck back inside after making the cut at Augusta National.
- Smylie Kaufman’s final-round 81 meant that he only moved up one spot in the rankings despite playing in Sunday’s final pairing. He’s at No. 48, while the latest OWGR top 50 bubble consists of Scott Piercy, Victor Dubuisson and Chris Wood at Nos. 49-51.
