McIlroy back to No. 1 in golf ranking

VIRGINIA WATER, England, April 16 (UPI) -- Rory McIlroy returned to the No. 1 spot in the men's world golf rankings Monday.

McIlroy did not play last week but adjustments stemming from past tournaments move him back into the top spot.

He replaced Luke Donald, who finished 15th, 16 shots behind winner Carl Pettersson in the RBC Heritage during the weekend in South Carolina.

McIlroy's ranking average improves 0.063 points to 9.594 while Donald's slips 0.137 to 9.477. That gives McIlroy his third week overall at No. 1. Donald has been on top for 44 weeks.

The only other change in the Top 10 came as Martin Kaymer (5.581) edges past Steve Stricker (5.535) and into sixth. Stricker is seventh.

Lee Westwood is third with a rankings average of 8.272 followed by Bubba Watson at 6.466 and Hunter Mahan in sixth at 5.825.

Tiger Woods remains No. 8 with an average of 5.478 while Phil Mickelson (5.322) in ninth and Justin Rose (5.205) in the No. 10 spot.

Louis Oosthuizen, who lost a playoff to Watson at the Masters, traveled nearly 10,000 miles for the Maybank Malaysian Open and came away a winner. He's up seven spots this week to No. 19. He was 27th before the Masters.

Pettersson improves his ranking to 68th from 110th.