Pettersen makes big rankings move

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Suzann Pettersen's solid LPGA victory last weekend allowed her to improve to No. 2 in the women's world golf rankings released Tuesday.

Pettersen built a big lead in Saturday's third round and was able Sunday to retain her 5-stroke advantage for the championship of the CN Canadian Women's Open in Priddis, Alberta, Canada.

The win was the sixth LPGA title for Pettersen and her first in 44 tournaments. Still, she'd played consistently well enough -- the $412,500 first-prize check from last week's win pushed her past $1 million in winnings this year -- to make the women's Top 10. She entered last week's tournament ranked sixth in the world but is now No. 2.

Lorena Ochoa remained the top-rated women's golfer but Petterson's jump up the list caused several adjustments. Yani Tseng fell to third while Cristie Kerr was pushed down one spot to fourth.

Jiyai Shin is fifth but Paula Creamer dropped two slots from fourth to sixth. Karrie Webb is seventh followed by No. 8 Angela Stanford, ninth-ranked Kim In-kyung and No. 10 Ai Miyazato, all of whom held onto their positions from last week's rankings.

Webb, Stanford and Miyazato were among the five players who tied for second behind Pettersen. The others were Morgan Pressel, who improved four ranking spots from 26th to 22nd, and Momoko Ueda, who went from 31st to 26th this week.