Tiger vaults up rankings

Tiger Woods posted the two worst rounds of his career at the Masters over the weekend, but just making the cut vaulted the 15-time major winner 228 spots in the world rankings.

Woods, who had not played a competitive round since the 2020 Masters, played in November of that year, entered last week ranked 973rd. He moved to 745th following his 47th-place showing at Augusta National.

That's a far cry from the 679 weeks he has spent at No 1, but the 46-year-old's ability to ever compete again had been in question since nearly losing his leg in a car accident 14 months ago.

Woods is unlikely to resume anything close to a full PGA Tour schedule in the future, but did say after Sunday's round that he intends to play in the British Open at St. Andrews in Scotland in July.

Scottie Scheffler increased his grip on the top spot with his victory. Anointed as the new No 1 just last week, Scheffler now has a 180.17-point lead over Collin Morikawa, who moved backed to No 2 in the world with his solo-fifth finish at the Masters.

Jon Rahm slipped a spot for the second consecutive week and is No 3 after a tied-27th at the Masters. Viktor Hovland is No 4, followed by Cameron Smith, who moved to a career-best No 5 despite a disappointing 73 on Sunday that left him in a tie for third.

Rory McIlroy tied the Sunday scoring record at the Masters with a 64 and his runner-up finish pushed him up two spots to No 7, just behind Patrick Cantlay. Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Sam Burns round out the top 10. Burns missed the cut by a single shot but entered the top 10 for the first time by slipping by Xander Schauffele, who also failed to make the weekend.

Joaquin Niemann also achieved a new career best by moving up five spots to No 15. The young Chilean started hot with a 69 at Augusta while playing with Woods on Thursday before cooling off over the weekend and settling for a T35.

Im Sung-jae (No 21) and Shane Lowry (30) each moved up five spots with their top-10 finishes.

Phil Mickelson, who opted not to play the Masters while taking a break from competitive golf, held steady at No 51-just outside of the coveted top-50 to qualify for all of the major worldwide events.

Rickie Fowler slipped four spots to No 138 after failing to qualify for the Masters for the second consecutive year. It is the lowest Fowler has been ranked since finishing 2009 ranked 251st.

Reuters