Garcia back in the Ryder race

Sergio Garcia's victory in the Players Championship in Florida was great news not just for him, but also for European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo.

Garcia rockets up from 16th to third on the world points list from which the first five of Faldo's team will come.

Swede Daniel Chopra is the player who drops out of an automatic spot as a result, while Robert Karlsson moves from eighth to sixth and Nick Dougherty from ninth to eighth.

They were both competing in the Italian Open and finished third and 10th respectively.

As it stands, there would be two Irish players in the European team with Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell well placed for Septmeber's match in Valhalla.

Latest leading places in the European Ryder Cup tables (Capitals indicate players currently in qualifying positions)

World List

1 LEE WESTWOOD 168.14, 2 HENRIK STENSON 156.14, 3 SERGIO GARCIA 145.24, 4 JUSTIN ROSE 141.38, 5 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 121.14, 6 Daniel Chopra 114.88, 7 Martin Kaymer 105.82, 8 Ian Poulter 104.07, 9 Luke Donald 101.09, 10 Miguel Angel Jimenez 92.86, 11 Robert Karlsson 90.95, 12 Soren Hansen 89.07

European List

1 Westwood 1,499,315, 2 Rose 1,239,606, 3 Stenson 1,214,701, 4 ROBERT KARLSSON 993,422, 5 GRAEME McDOWELL 921,032, 6 NICK DOUGHERTY 919,048, 7 MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ 890,753, 8 SOREN HANSEN 859,705, 9 Martin Kaymer 831,353, 10 Soren Kjeldsen 783,923, 11 Steve Webster 755,830, 12 Harrington 745,336

© 2008 The Irish Times