The wacky world rankings in golf are so out-of-this-world that a player can climb to No. 1 in a week without swinging a club.
Go figure, but’s what happened to Rory McIlroy this week.
While he was spending part of the week in Copenhagen, Luke Donald was playing just bad enough in Hilton Head, S.C. to fall out of the top spot in the rankings.
Donald finished off a disappointing week at the RBC Heritage with an even-par 71 on Sunday and finished in a tie for 37th place. He needed to finish among the top eight at Harbour Town Golf Links to stay on top.
Instead, will surrender No. 1 to McIlroy when the new world rankings are released on Monday.
“Is it a concern? No,” Donald said. “Obviously, I’d have liked to have played a bit more consistently this year. I built it up nicely last year through tournaments and winning a bunch. As a result, there’s a little bit of fluctuation in the world rankings now.”
Donald was ranked No. 1 for 40 weeks, a run that ended following McIlroy’s win at the Honda Classic last month. Donald needed just two weeks to reclaim the spot with his victory at the Transitions Championship.
The 22-year-old McIlroy, like most of golf’s best, took the week off after the Masters. McIlroy spent part of the week in Copenhagen visiting girlfriend Caroline Wozniaki, according to the tennis star’s tweets.
McIlroy tweeted this on Sunday: “#1 again without touching a golf club this week…. I wish it was that easy!”
McIlroy is not expected to play again until the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C., in three weeks.
Donald will take next week off and then return to action in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans starting April 26.