Australian Geoff Ogilvy is up from 11th to sixth in the world after winning the opening event of the US Tour season - and Padraig Harrington up from fourth to third without hitting a ball.
Ogilvy romped to a superb six-stroke victory at the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii, playing a seven-hole stretch in the middle of his final round in seven-under-par after his lead had been cut to one.
Open and US PGA champion Harrington starts his 2009 campaign in Abu Dhabi this week, but because the rankings are calculated over a rolling two-year period he has moved ahead of Phil Mickelson.
No.2 Sergio Garcia is also in the Middle East and he and Harrington are looking to close the gap on Tiger Woods, whose long injury lay-off has given both the chance to claim the top spot in the next few months.
Anthony Kim, who finished equal-second behind Ogilvy in Hawaii, moved up three places to ninth, dropping Ernie Els to 10th and Lee Westwood to 11th.
Adam Scott fell three places from 15th to 18th, just head of Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman.
Latest leading positions in the world rankings:
1 Tiger Woods 11.36pts, 2 Sergio Garcia 7.88, 3 Padraig Harrington 6.71, 4 Phil Mickelson 6.71, 5 Vijay Singh 6.54, 6 Geoff Ogilvy 5.31, 7 Robert Karlsson 4.95, 8 Camilo Villegas 4.75, 9 Anthony Kim 4.74, 10 Ernie Els 4.61, 11 Lee Westwood 4.59, 12 Henrik Stenson 4.58, 13 Jim Furyk 4.29, 14 Kenny Perry 3.92, 15 Steve Stricker 3.76, 16 Stewart Cink 3.74, 17 KJ Choi 3.71, 18 Adam Scott 3.71, 19 Justin Rose 3.40, 20 Trevor Immelman 3.39