Els stays at No. 3 despite Hawaii
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- South Africa's Ernie Els remained third in the official world rankings issued on Monday, despite successfully defending his Hawaiian Open title over the weekend.
However Els, who birdied the third playoff hole to edge out American Harrison Frazar at Honolulu's Waialae Country Club, closed the gap on second-ranked Vijay Singh to just 1.04 points.
Fijian Singh tied for 10th in Hawaii, his 13th top-10 finish in his last 14 PGA Tour starts.
Although world number one Tiger Woods did not play at Waialae, he celebrates his record 232nd consecutive week as the game's leading player.
Davis Love III stays at four, U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk at five and U.S. Masters winner Mike Weir at six.
In the only changes to the world's top 10 this week, Americans David Toms and Kenny Perry traded places at eight and nine.
On the European Tour on Sunday, local favorite Trevor Immelman became the first man since compatriot Gary Player to retain the South African Open title and climbed 19 spots to a career-high 37th in the world.
The 24-year-old Immelman, who triumphed by three shots at Erinvale Golf Club outside Cape Town, remained the third highest-ranked South African in the global pecking order after Els and Retief Goosen (seven).
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