Simpson slips in men's golf rankings

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VIRGINIA WATER, England, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Webb Simpson slips two spots in the men's world golf rankings, which saw several Top 10 changes due to past tournament point adjustments.

The PGA Tour was off last week ahead of the Tour Championship, the final event in the four-tournament FedEx Playoffs. The tournament begins Thursday in Atlanta.

Rory McIlroy has won the last two tournaments and remains the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

The rankings are determined through event results over a two-year period with older tournaments' point values diminished. That led to this week's changes.

Simpson goes from sixth to eighth this week, allowing Jason Dufner and Bubba Watson to each move up one place to sixth and seventh, respectively. Also, Steve Stricker takes over the No. 10 place, pushing Louis Oosthuizen to 11th.

McIlroy had a rankings point average of 12.93, well ahead of No. 2-ranked Tiger Woods, whose average is 9.54 while Luke Donald comes in third at 9.18.

Lee Westwood's average is 7.44, good enough for the No. 4 ranking but the players are more tightly grouped after that.

Adam Scott's average of 6.43, which is fifth best, is just ahead of Dufner's 6.13 and Watson's 6.11. Simpson, ranked eighth, isn't much further back at 6.01. Ninth-ranked Justin Rose had an average of 5.87 and Stricker comes in at 5.77.