Rory McIlroy is up to second in the world rankings after his fourth-place finish in the HSBC Champions event.
A last-hole birdie in Shanghai was enough to lift him to a career-high ranking, one which leaves only England's Luke Donald ahead of the 22-year-old US Open champion.
If he had parred the 18th hole, McIlroy would have been in a four-way tie for sixth and would have stayed behind Lee Westwood in the ranking list.
But he hit his approach to the par five to the back of the green and two-putted to boost his ranking position.
Martin Kaymer's victory at the tournament lifted him back to fourth in the ranking list, giving Europe the top four places again.
He carded a final round of 63 to win, one which contained nine birdies in the last 12 holes.
Meanwhile, Kaymer's win puts him second in the European Tour's 'Race To Dubai' money list, ahead of McIlroy.
He now has 2,830,264 euros, but remains more than a million behind leader Luke Donald (3,856,394) as the race heads towards its conclusion at next month's Dubai World Championship.
Kaymer's title triumph has also put him at the head of the race for a spot in Europe's Ryder Cup team.
The German is top of the European points list, the top five on which make the team. The top five on the world points list (who have not already qualified) on August 26 next year also make the 12-man line-up, with captain Jose Maria Olazabal able to choose two wild cards.
Ryder Cup standings (capitals indicate players in qualifying positions):
European points list: 1 MARTIN KAYMER 1,179,368, 2 SERGIO GARCIA 833,330, 3 RORY McILROY 789,420, 4 MICHAEL HOEY 641,387, 5 GRAEME McDOWELL 511,571, 6 Fredrik Jacobson 473,747, 7 Thomas Bjorn 461,427, 8 Tom Lewis 459,265, 9 Simon Dyson 444,241, 10 David Lynn 429,064.
World Rankings
World points list: 1 LUKE DONALD 100.32, 2 Martin Kaymer 97.77, 3 Rory McIlroy 93.08, 4 JUSTIN ROSE 81.46, 5 Sergio Garcia 71.93, 6 FREDRIK JACOBSON 57.67, 7 SIMON DYSON 55.43, 8 Michael Hoey 55.42, 9 THOMAS BJORN 54.38, 10 Graeme McDowell 46.22.