Ames steps up in world rankings

Breaking the trend of a decline in the world ratings in recent months, Ames recaptured some of his best form at the WGC event in San Francisco last weekend to move up from position 47 he held last week.

American Tiger Woods strengthened his grip at the top of the world rankings by winning in San Francisco.

Woods clinched his sixth PGA Tour title of the year to boost his points average to 18.19.

Second-ranked Vijay Singh, of Fiji, trails Woods by an average of 6.25 world ranking points after tying for sixth in San Francisco. In the only changes to the world’s top 10, Americans Jim Furyk and David Toms climbed to nine and 10 with compatriot Kenny Perry dropping two spots to 12th and Argentina’s Angel Cabrera slipping from ninth to 11th.

Ames, who started the year with a top-20 world ranking from a bumper 2004 season when he had 11 top-10 finishes and earned US$3.3 million, has had a comparatively tame 2005 season.

His result Sunday was only his third Top-10 finish for 2005 — together with the MCI Heritage in April and the Bell Canadian Open last month — in 23 tournaments.

World Golf Rankings: 1 Tiger Woods (USA); 2 Vijay Singh (Fiji); 3 Phil Mickelson (USA); 4 Ernie Els (S.Africa); 5 Retief Goosen (S.Africa); 6 Sergio Garcia (Spain); 7 Adam Scott (Australia); 8 Chris DiMarco (USA); 9 Jim Furyk (USA); 10 David Toms (USA); 44 Stephen Ames (TT).