Bradley, Dufner jump up in golf rankings

VIRGINIA WATER, England, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Keegan Bradley, winning a title in his first major tournament appearance, bolted up an impressive 79 places Monday in the men's world golf rankings.

Bradley defeated Jason Dufner in a three-hole aggregate playoff Sunday in winning the PGA Championship. He overcame a triple bogey at the 15th hole with back-to-back birdies the next two holes to earn the spot in the playoff, which he won by one stroke.

That puts him at No. 29 in the world after starting the tournament in the No. 108 spot. Dufner moves from 80th to No. 38.

The game's biggest names weren't factors at the PGA Championship despite Steve Stricker's record-tying start Thursday. Only three Top10 players finished in the Top 10 Sunday: Adam Scott moving up two places to seventh after he finished seventh and world No. 1 Luke Donald and second-ranked Lee Westwood ending up tied for eighth.

Defending champion Martin Kaymer missed the cut and dropped one place to fourth. Tiger Woods also missed the cut and is ranked 33rd.

Donald, holding the No. 1 spot for the 12th week, has a rankings points average of 10.284.

Westwood's average is 8.442. Sticker (average of 7.035) wound up tied for 12th at the PGA Championship and moves up two places in the rankings to third. Kaymer's average is 6.981. Rory McIlroy (6.907), playing with an injured wrist en route to a tie for 64th, drops one place this week to fifth.

Phil Mickelson (5.970) keeps the No. 6 place but Scott (5.803) is close behind. Jason Day (5.618) and Dustin Johnson (5.545) each slip one place to eighth and ninth, respectively, after missing the cut at the PGA Championships. Nick Watney (5.404) remains 10th in the rankings.