Paul Casey is up from 42nd to 21st in the world after his Abu Dhabi Championship victory - and joint runner-up Martin Kaymer is into the top 20 for the first time in his career.
Former Masters champion Zach Johnson won the Sony Open in Hawaii and he improves from 44th to 27th.
With Tiger Woods losing points through his lengthy injury lay-off both Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington took the chance to close the gap further.
Number two Garcia tied for eighth in the Middle East, while Harrington was joint fifth.
Latest leading positions in the world rankings:
1 Tiger Woods 11.06pts, 2 Sergio Garcia 7.91, 3 Padraig Harrington 6.79, 4 Phil Mickelson 6.69, 5 Vijay Singh 6.42, 6 Geoff Ogilvy 5.15, 7 Robert Karlsson 4.97, 8 Anthony Kim 4.76, 9 Camilo Villegas 4.68, 10 Lee Westwood 4.51
11 Henrik Stenson 4.49, 12 Ernie Els 4.46, 13 Jim Furyk 4.19, 14 Adam Scott 4.03, 15 Kenny Perry 3.87, 16 Steve Stricker 3.63, 17 Stewart Cink 3.62, 18 KJ Choi 3.62, 19 Martin Kaymer 3.43, 20 Justin Rose 3.39
Other leading Europeans:
21 Paul Casey, 26 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 29 Ian Poulter, 31 Ross Fisher, 32 Luke Donald, 35 Rory McIlroy, 36 Graeme McDowell, 43 Oliver Wilson, 48 Soren Hansen, 51 Soren Kjeldsen, 53 Peter Hanson, 62 Carl Pettersson, 68 Anders Hansen, 71 Darren Clarke, 72 Fredrik Jacobson, 74 Alvaro Quiros, 77 Francesco Molinari, 80 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, 85 Nick Dougherty, 86 Anthony Wall, 91 Peter Hedblom, 92 Gareth Maybin, 97 Pablo Larrazabal
WOODS’ POSITION UNDER THREAT
REINVIGORATED CASEY BACK ON TRACK
Bucs list QB Garcia as questionable for Sunday
