McIlroy ends year as world No 1 golfer

Rory McIlroy has ended the year as world No.1 for the first time with a comfortable lead at the top of the official rankings over Luke Donald and Tiger Woods. The 23-year-old Ulsterman won four tournaments during the year including his second major at the USPGA Championships in August That allowed him to break free of a year-long logjam atop the rankings involving himself, Donald and Lee Westwood. Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia end the year 14th and 16th in the world respectively after their weekend wins in South Africa and Malaysia. Dane Thorbjorn Olesen held on to 50th spot by 0.01 ranking points from Australian Geoff Ogilvy and so earns himself a US Masters debut next April. Final 2012 positions in the world golf rankings (end of 2011 positions in brackets): 1.     (3)     Rory McIlroy     (NIR)     13.22pts     2.     (1)     Luke Donald     (ENG)     8.62     3.     (23)     Tiger Woods     (USA)     8.53     4.     (18)     Justin Rose     (ENG)     6.42     5.     (5)     Adam Scott     (AUS)     6.21     6.     (40)     Louis Oosthuizen     (RSA)     6.14     7.     (2)     Lee Westwood     (ENG)     6.03     8.     (21)     Bubba Watson     (USA)     5.30     9.     (33)     Jason Dufner     (USA)     5.29     10.     (38)     Brandt Snedeker     (USA)     5.23     11.     (10)     Webb Simpson     (USA)     5.13     12.     (16)     Ian Poulter     (ENG)     5.00     13.     (31)     Keegan Bradley     (USA)     5.00     14.     (9)     Charl Schwartzel     (RSA)     4.90     15.     (13)     Graeme McDowell     (NIR)     4.81     16.     (17)     Sergio Garcia     (ESP)     4.74     17.     (14)     Phil Mickelson     (USA)     4.69     18.     (6)     Steve Stricker     (USA)     4.65     19.     (42)     Peter Hanson     (SWE)     4.59     20.     (12)     Nick Watney     (USA)     4.54