Els soars to 15th in world rankings

Jul 23, 2012 - 3:02 PM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - With his late rally and stunning collapse by Adam Scott, Ernie Els won his fourth major championship on Sunday. The win helped him soar 25 places to 15th in this week's world rankings.

Els has now won the U.S. and British Opens twice each. He narrowly missed out on this year's Masters, but will be invited for the next five years with this victory.

Luke Donald shared fifth behind Els and expanded his lead atop the rankings, but there is a new name behind him.

Tiger Woods tied for third at Royal Lytham and that helped him jump up two spots to No. 2 this week. That knocked Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood down to third and fourth.

Webb Simpson remained No. 5 and was followed by Scott, who climbed seven spots to sixth in the rankings. Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner, Matt Kuchar and Justin Rose all dipped one spot apiece.

Graeme McDowell and Zach Johnson exchanged places with McDowell up to 11th. Hunter Mahan slid three to 13th, while Steve Stricker held steady in 14th.

Behind Els, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson flip-flopped positions with Johnson up to 16th. Martin Kaymer dipped three to 18th, Louis Oosthuizen was down one to 19 and Rickie Fowler remained No. 20.

Charl Schwartzel fell out of the top 20 as he dropped from 19th to 22nd this week.