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McDowell slides outside of the top ten

Robert Karlsson celebrates his win at the Dubai World Championship © Getty Images

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Robert Karlsson has been rewarded for his excellent form by climbing into the world's top 20, while Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell has slipped out of the top ten.

Karlsson had a 2009 to forget, picking up only one top-25 finish and only making five cuts. However, 2010 has been a different story, with the weekend's play-off victory over Ian Poulter for the Dubai World Championship being his crowning moment.

US Open champion McDowell was left to rue a poor spell of putting as he lost out to Martin Kaymer in the Race to Dubai and fell to 11th in the world standings. Needing a top-three finish to give himself a chance of topping the money list, one of Europe's Ryder Cup heroes could only tie for 13th along with Kaymer - leaving the German to finish the year as Europe's premier golfer.

Meanwhile, the European Tour is to extend the 'Gulf Swing' to four successive weeks at the start of the year, with three new tournaments in Bahrain, Malaysia and Sicily.

With six Europeans inside the top ten, European golf is in rude health and is set for a shake-up to the schedule in 2012. The season will be held in the same calendar year - not spread over two years as it currently is - and chief operating officer Keith Waters has backed the decision to change the Tour's schedule.

"With the return of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup [in November], the Race to Dubai will conclude in December for the first time in 2011, enabling us to introduce a schedule based on the calendar year," he said in the Daily Telegraph.

"That has been our stated intention for some time now. We anticipate therefore that the 2012 season will commence in January that year and conclude in late November."

World Rankings: 1. Lee Westwood (Eng), 2. Tiger Woods (USA), 3. Martin Kaymer (Ger) 4. Phil Mickelson (USA), 5. Steve Stricker (USA), 6. Jim Furyk (USA), 7. Paul Casey (Eng), 8. Ian Poulter (Eng), 9. Luke Donald (Eng), 10. Rory McIlroy (NI), 11. Graeme McDowell (Eng), 12. Matt Kuchar (USA), 13. Ernie Els (RSA), 14. Dustin Johnson (USA), 15. Francesco Molinari (Ita), 16. Robert Karlsson (Ita), 17. Edoardo Molinari (Ita), 18. Hunter Mahan (USA), 19. Retief Goosen (RSA), 20. Adam Scott (Aus)

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