Northern Ireland teenager Rory McIlroy, "over the moon" at qualifying for next April's Masters, has risen all the way to 39th in the end-of-year world rankings.
The 19-year-old, top amateur at last year's Open Championship, is only 15 months into his professional career, but has already been in two play-offs and just missed out on another at the South African Open.
McIlroy went into the event 50th in the world and needed to stay there to secure his Augusta debut, but joint third place with Ernie Els and Lee Westwood means he has climbed nearly 200 spots on the rankings in 2008.
South African Richard Sterne defeated McIlroy's compatriot Gareth Maybin at the first extra hole for his second successive victory and by shooting up to world number 43 will also be at The Masters.
Maybin, who on the 18th missed an eight-foot chance to take his first European Tour title, is into the top 100 for the first time at 90th.
England's Ross Fisher and Oliver Wilson, 29th and 40th in the world, will also be making their first appearances at Augusta.
Latest leading positions:
1 Tiger Woods 11.96pts, 2 Sergio Garcia 8.10, 3 Phil Mickelson 7.02, 4 Padraig Harrington 6.95, 5 Vijay Singh 6.64, 6 Robert Karlsson 5.08, 7 Camilo Villegas 4.89, 8 Henrik Stenson 4.76, 9 Ernie Els 4.76, 10 Lee Westwood 4.73
11 Anthony Kim 4.44, 12 Geoff Ogilvy 4.44, 13 Jim Furyk 4.30, 14 Kenny Perry 3.88, 15 Steve Stricker 3.87, 16 Stewart Cink 3.85, 17 Adam Scott 3.80, 18 KJ Choi 3.74, 19 Justin Rose 3.58, 20 Trevor Immelman 3.40
Other leading Europeans:
22 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 25 Martin Kaymer, 26 Ian Poulter, 29 Ross Fisher, 31 Luke Donald, 33 Graeme McDowell, 39 Rory McIlroy, 40 Oliver Wilson, 41 Paul Casey, 47 Soren Hansen, 50 Soren Kjeldsen, 55 Peter Hanson, 62 Carl Pettersson, 67 Fredrik Jacobson, 70 Darren Clarke, 73 Alvaro Quiros, 76 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 78 Nick Dougherty, 79 Francesco Molinari, 86 Peter Hedblom, 89 Anders Hansen, 90 Gareth Maybin, 96 Pablo Larrazabal, 97 Alexander Noren
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