Recent PGA, LPGA winners move up in world rankings

April 29, 2014
Noh Seung-yul, left, and Lydia Ko raised up championship trophies on the same day. (AP)

Noh Seung-yul, left, and Lydia Ko each saw their world rankings go up after winning on the same day. (AP)

The most recent winners on the PGA and the LPGA Tours, both of South Korean descent, moved up in the latest world rankings. 

Noh Seung-yul, who captured the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday, cracked the top 100 in the men’s rankings, jumping from 176th to 88th. The last time Noh had been inside the top 100 was after the Northern Trust Open on the PGA Tour in February last year, when he ranked 98th.

Noh’s career high in the world rankings is the 61st position he occupied in 2011.

Noh, 22, became the fourth South Korean to win on the PGA Tour, edging out Andrew Svoboda and Robert Streb by two strokes.

Kim Hyung-sung, who mostly plays in Japan, remained the top-ranked South Korean at No. 85.

On the women’s rankings, Lydia Ko, the South Korean-born New Zealander, went up from No. 4 to No. 2.  She won last weekend’s Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.

It was Ko’s third LPGA title, and her first since turning professional last fall.

The 17-year-old trails South Korean Park In-bee, who stayed at No. 1 for the 55th week. Stacy Lewis of the United States, who finished a stroke behind Ko at Swinging Skirts, remained at No. 3. Suzann Pettersen of Norway, who’s been hampered by injuries, fell from No. 2 to No. 4.

Ryu So-yeon, at No. 7, is the one other South Korean inside the top 10.