Harrington drops out of World top 50

Graeme McDowell's 30th place at the Saab Wales Open has cost him three spots on the world rankings.

Next week's US Open defending champion falls to eighth, with Memorial winner Steve Stricker, runner-up Matt Kuchar and fifth-placed Rory McIlroy all going ahead of him.

Harrington, who returns from a knee injury in Memphis this week, has dropped outside the top 50 for the first time since 1999, while Celtic Manor winner Alex Noren has risen from 127th to 80th.

Darren Clarke is ranked 94th.

Luke Donald's 10th successive top-10 finish has guaranteed that he will go into the US Open next week as world number one.

There will not be enough ranking points on offer when Lee Westwood defends his FedEx St Jude Classic title in Memphis this week for him to take the top spot back off Donald.

Donald followed his BMW PGA Championship play-off win over fellow Englishman Westwood with seventh place yesterday in the Memorial tournament at Muirfield Village.

Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:

1 Luke Donald 9.21pts, 2 Lee Westwood 8.59, 3 Martin Kaymer 7.42, 4 Steve Stricker 6.54, 5 Phil Mickelson 6.06, 6 Matt Kuchar 5.67, 7 Rory McIlroy 5.50, 8 Graeme McDowell 5.45, 9 Dustin Johnson 5.16, 10 Paul Casey 5.16 11 Charl Schwartzel 5.10, 12 Bubba Watson 4.96, 13 Ian Poulter 4.89, 14 Nick Watney 4.78, 15 Tiger Woods 4.69, 16 KJ Choi 4.47, 17 Jim Furyk 4.29, 18 Hunter Mahan 4.22, 19 Jason Day 4.19, 20 Francesco Molinari 4.10

Other leading Europeans:

23 Robert Karlsson, 24 Alvaro Quiros, 25 Martin Laird, 26 Miguel Angel Jimenez, 29 Justin Rose, 30 Matteo Manassero, 35 Edoardo Molinari, 37 Anders Hansen, 46 Peter Hanson, 51 Padraig Harrington, 54 Ross Fisher, 70 Thomas Bjorn, 71 Simon Dyson, 75 Sergio Garcia, 76 Gregory Bourdy, 77 Raphael Jacquelin, 79 David Horsey, 80 Alexander Noren, 81 Stephen Gallacher, 82 Nicolas Colsaerts, 90 Brian Davis, 93 Johan Edfors, 94 Darren Clarke, 99 Rhys Davies, 100 Jamie Donaldson