Oosthuizen, Mickelson rise in rankings

VIRGINIA WATER, England, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Louis Oosthuizen and Phil Mickelson each inch up one spot this week in the men's world golf rankings.

Oosthuizen edges past Justin Rose by 1-100th of a point and moves to fifth in the rankings while Mickelson passes Bubba Watson for ninth.

Rory McIlroy's rankings points average of 12.09 gives him a healthy hold on the No. 1 spot.

Tiger Woods has an average of 8.91 for second. Luke Donald (7.35) is third followed by Brandt Snedeker (6.82).

Oosthuizen's average is 6.36, barely ahead of the 6.35 mark of Rose's. Adam Scott comes in seventh at 5.78 and Lee Westwood (5.45) is eighth. Mickelson has an average of 5.14 and Watson is at 5.09.

John Merrick won the Northern Trust Open for his first PGA title, a win that places him at 74th after an improvement of 167 ranking places. Darren Fichardt, whose win at the Africa Open was his fourth European Tour championship, is No. 100 in the rankings. He had been 146th.