Colin Montgomerie still has to climb four more places in the world rankings to qualify for the Masters at Augusta in April.
Knocked out by eventual runner-up Stewart Cink in the third round of the Accenture world match play championship in Arizona last week, Montgomerie moves up from 62nd to 54th.
The eight-time European number one needs to be in the top 50 the week before the first major of the year.
He is playing in the Johnnie Walker Classic in India this week, then the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea and the CA World Championship in Florida before the cut-off date at the end of this month.
Padraig Harrington's second round defeat at the hands of Cink has not affected his position, the Dubliner remaining at 10th, while Tiger Woods strengthened his vice-like grip on top spot thanks to his emphatic win last night.
Latest leading positions:
1 Tiger Woods 21.24pts, 2 Phil Mickelson 10.12, 3 Steve Stricker 6.59, 4 Ernie Els 6.16, 5 Adam Scott 6.03, 6 KJ Choi 5.91, 7 Justin Rose 5.73, 8 Jim Furyk 5.64, 9 Rory Sabbatini 5.59, 10 Padraig Harrington5.22, 11 Vijay Singh 5.14, 12 Henrik Stenson 5.09, 13 Sergio Garcia 4.42, 14 Angel Cabrera 4.29, 15 Stewart Cink 4.10, 16 Luke Donald 3.94, 17 Geoff Ogilvy 3.89, 18 Aaron Baddeley 3.79, 19 Zach Johnson 3.70, 20 Lee Westwood 3.59
Other leading Europeans:
22 Martin Kaymer, 23 Niclas Fasth, 24 Ian Poulter, 26 Paul Casey, 42 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 44 Soren Hansen, 45 Robert Karlsson, 51 Nick Dougherty, 54 Colin Montgomerie, 56 Anders Hansen, 61 Bradley Dredge, 63 Peter Hanson, 66 Daniel Chopra, 71 Soren Kjeldsen, 72 Simon Dyson, 74 Carl Pettersson, 76 Steve Webster, 79 Mikko Ilonen, 87 Graeme McDowell, 92 Ross Fisher, 93 Bernhard Langer, 94 Ross McGowan, 95 Raphael Jacquelin, 98 Fredrik Jacobson.