Luke Donald moves to No. 2 in rankings

VIRGINIA WATER, England, May 16 (UPI) -- Luke Donald's strong finish at The Players Championship allowed him to take over the No. 2 spot in the men's world golf rankings.

Donald wound up fourth at The Players, an event won by K.J. Choi in a playoff with David Toms. Donald was able to get by Martin Kaymer and into the No. 2 spot in the rankings.

Lee Westwood remains No. 1 with a rankings point average of 8.096 while Donald's average is 7.518 and Kaymer is at 7.248.

Phil Mickelson is fourth at 6.408 ahead of No. 5 Graeme McDowell (5.622) and sixth-ranked Rory McIlroy (5.443).

Steve Stricker was tied for 12th at The Players but still jumped up two spots to seventh with a 5.273 average, moving past Tiger Woods (5.196), now No. 8, who withdrew after nine holes Thursday due to injury. No. 9 Paul Casey (5.176) was previously seventh but failed to make the cut this week. Matt Kuchar (5.115) is again 10th.

As for this week's tournament winners, Choi improved his ranking from 34th to 15th and Darren Clarke, who won the European Tour's Iberdrola Open, jumped from 124th to No. 88.