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Glover and Aiken ride wins to rankings boost

Thomas Aiken has moved up 31 places in the world rankings after his triumph © Getty Images

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• Profile: Thomas Aiken | Lucas Glover

Thomas Aiken's inaugural European Tour victory at the Open de Espana has seen him leap from No. 104 to 73rd in the official world golf rankings.

The South Africa, who edged out Dane Anders Hansen to win by two shots in Barcelona, immediately dedicated his victory to Seve Ballesteros, who passed away on Saturday morning.

"It's been a sad week with Seve passing away. I definitely want to dedicate this win to him with it being his home Open and what he gave to his home fans and to golf," Aiken said.

"He was everything to the game of golf and I am happy to have won for him - any of us would have won for him."

Meanwhile, Lucas Glover's victory on the PGA Tour at Quail Hollow saw him climb even further - moving from 110th to just inside the top 50 at 49th. The man he defeated in a playoff, Jonathan Byrd, congratulated his friend - who has had to come through some issues in his personal life since his last win, at the 2009 US Open.

"He's had a difficult time for maybe over a year now off the golf course," Byrd said. "He's had to play through some things, and for him to come back and play as well as he did this week and play as well as he did other weeks, I'm really proud of him."

As a result, Sergio Garcia - who needs to climb back into the top 50 within the next few weeks to ensure automatic qualification for the forthcoming US Open at Congressional - has dropped two places to 74th.

Elsewhere, Paul Casey moves above Tiger Woods in the rankings for the first time in his career, as the 14-time major champion drops to eighth.

World Rankings
1. Lee Westwood (ENG), 2. Martin Kaymer (GER), 3. Luke Donald (ENG), 4. Phil Mickelson, (USA), 5. Graeme McDowell, (NIR), 6. Rory McIlroy (NIR), 7. Paul Casey (ENG), 8. Tiger Woods (USA), 9. Steve Stricker (USA), 10. Matt Kuchar (USA), 11. Bubba Watson (USA), 12. Charl Schwartzel (RSA), 13. Dustin Johnson (USA), 14. Jim Furyk (USA), 15. Nick Watney (USA), 16. Ernie Els (RSA), 17. Adam Scott (AUS), 18. Ian Poulter (ENG), 19. Francesco Molinari (ITA), 20. Hunter Mahan (USA).

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