Tiger Woods continues rankings rise as Paul Casey jumps five places

PARIS: Former world number one Tiger Woods moved back into the world's top 150 on Monday, after falling just short in his bid for a first title since 2013 at the Valspar Championship.

England's Paul Casey jumped up five places to 12th in the rankings, after edging out the 14-time major champion by one stroke in Florida on Sunday.

The 42-year-old Woods, who was ranked outside the top 1,000 just last year after struggling with injuries, is now back up to number 149 as he prepares for his latest tilt at an 80th PGA Tour title in the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend -- a tournament he has won eight times.

He climbed 239 places after finishing tied-second behind Casey with Patrick Reed.

Reigning Masters champion Sergio Garcia returned to the world's top 10 thanks to a final-round 65 which saw him finish tied-fourth at the Valspar.

American Dustin Johnson maintains a healthy lead over compatriot Justin Thomas at the top of the rankings, after taking a week off.

World's top 20

1. Dustin Johnson (USA)           10.52 average pts

2. Justin Thomas (USA)             9.32

3. Jon Rahm (ESP)                  8.56

4. Jordan Spieth (USA)             8.09

5. Justin Rose (ENG)               7.36

6. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN)          7.13

7. Rickie Fowler (USA)             6.39

8. Brooks Koepka (USA)             5.88

9. Sergio Garcia (ESP)             5.80 (+2)

10. Jason Day (AUS)                5.76 (-1)

11. Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)          5.51 (-1)

12. Paul Casey (ENG)               5.47 (+5)

13. Rory McIlroy (NIR)             5.39 (-1)

14. Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)           4.93 (-1)

15. Henrik Stenson (SWE)           4.85 (-1)

16. Marc Leishman (AUS)            4.84

17. Alex Noren (SWE)               4.83 (-2)

18. Phil Mickelson (USA)           4.51

19. Pat Perez (USA)                4.35

20. Matt Kuchar (USA)              4.20

Selected:

149. Tiger Woods (USA)             1.09 (+239)