McDowell moves up in golf rankings

VIRGINIA WATER, England, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Graeme McDowell slipped ahead of Phil Mickelson for fourth place in the only change in the Top 10 of the world men's golf rankings.

McDowell has a rankings points average of 6.356, which moved him past Mickelson (6.268) and pulled him closer to the No. 3 ranking held by Tiger Woods (6.463).

Lee Westwood (8.213) is No. 1 for a 17th week. That is the seventh highest total of weeks at No. 1 but he has a way to go to move to sixth on that chart -- Nick Price is next at 44 weeks. And he has years to go before he can think of overtaking Woods's record of 623 weeks at No. 1.

Martin Kaymer (7.544) is second followed by Woods, McDowell and Mickelson.

Paul Casey (6.034) is sixth with Rory McIlroy (5.666) in seventh and Steve Stricker (5.573) at No. 8. Luke Donald (5.266) holds the No. 9 spot and Jim Furyk (5.235) completes the Top 10.

Last week's winners jumped well up the rankings with Northern Trust Open champion Aaron Baddeley moving from 224th to No. 73 and Avantha Masters, a stop in India at the European Tour, titlist SSP Chowrasia going from 497th to 268th.