Rory McIlroy, just the sixth teenager to win on the European Tour, now stands 16th in the world.
But the new rankings do not make such happy reading for the 19-year-old's stablemate Ernie Els.
Kenny Perry's play-off victory over Charley Hoffman at the FBR Open in Arizona takes him to ninth and drops Els to 13th, his lowest position since he won his first major title at the 1994 US Open.
McIlroy, who only a week ago said that making it into the game's top 20 was one of his goals for the year, did it in one mighty leap - beating Justin Rose by one shot at the Dubai Desert Classic.
It was nerve-wracking stuff for the Northern Ireland youngster, though. He was six ahead in the final round but bogeyed the 15th, 16th and 17th - and then was bunkered in three on the par-five 18th.
But McIlroy splashed out to three feet - and after Rose had missed his birdie attempt, he made his par to claim the title.
Only by finishing second did Rose stay ahead of McIlroy in the rankings. He climbed back to 15th.
Latest leading positions:
1 Tiger Woods 10.46pts
2 Sergio Garcia 7.96
3 Padraig Harrington 6.56
4 Phil Mickelson 6.51
5 Vijay Singh 6.40
6 Henrik Stenson 5.25
7 Robert Karlsson 5.11
8 Geoff Ogilvy 5.09
9 Kenny Perry 4.81
10 Anthony Kim 4.70
11 Camilo Villegas 4.62
12 Lee Westwood 4.44
13 Ernie Els 4.30
14 Jim Furyk 4.00
15 Justin Rose 3.91
16 Rory McIlroy 3.86
17 Adam Scott 3.85
18 Steve Stricker 3.69
19 Stewart Cink 3.54
20 KJ Choi 3.51
Other leading Europeans:
21 Paul Casey
22 Martin Kaymer
23 Miguel Angel Jimenez
26 Alvaro Quiros
31 Ian Poulter
33 Ross Fisher
35 Graeme McDowell
40 Luke Donald
43 Oliver Wilson
48 Soren Hansen
52 Peter Hanson
56 Soren Kjeldsen
63 Anders Hansen
67 Carl Pettersson
73 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano
75 Darren Clarke
79 Francesco Molinari
80 Fredrik Jacobson
81 Anthony Wall
89 Nick Dougherty
93 Gareth Maybin
95 Alexander Noren
96 Peter Hedblom
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