Date: August 18, 2015
Author: Mark Hayes

Spieth ascends to top of world golf

Emirates Australian Open champion Jordan Spieth is the new world No.1.

Riding the crest of the wave he began paddling at The Australian Golf Club last year, Spieth’s runner-up finish to Queensland’s Jason Day in the US PGA Championship proved just enough to take the top spot.

Combined with former No.1 Rory McIlroy’s 17th place and the points he lost as last year’s PGA champ, the Northern Irishman fell 0.2 of a point behind the Texan.

The ascension marks the second consecutive year that the Australian Open champion has gone on the to reach world No.1 the following season after McIlroy won the Stonehaven Cup in 2013.

Day also took his highest ever ranking, leaping from fifth to third with his first major championship victory.

The 27-year-old supplanted Bubba Watson and Justin Rose to set up a handy points break in third and less than three points behind the top pair,

Adam Scott fell back to 12th after his first missed cut in a major championship since 2011, with South African Branden Grace’s third place at Whistling Straits moving him inside the top 20 for the first time.

Incredibly, there are now seven Australians in the top 100 with Golf Australia rookie squad member Cam Smith leapfrogging from 104th to 91st after his tie for 25th at the PGA.

He joins Marc Leishman (31), Steve Bowditch (57), John Senden (59) and Matt Jones (70), pushing Australia past South Africa (6) and into third in terms of representation in the top 100.

There are 45 Americans and 13 Englishmen in the top 100.