Ian Poulter has entered the world's top 20 for the first time, following victory at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan yesterday.

The 31-year-old Englishman shot an 11-under-par 269 to claim his inaugural title of the season at the Phoenix County Club, with Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano three shots back in second and Luke Donald tied for third. It was Poulter's ninth career victory, his first in Asia.

The resultant ranking points lift Poulter above Trevor Immelman and into 20th place on the world rankings, where he joins six fellow Europeans likely to feature at the 2008 Ryder Cup in Louisville, Kentucky, next September - namely Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Luke Donald and Niklas Fasth. Paul Casey (21) and Lee Westwood (26) are not far behind.

The higher echelons of the rankings remain an American stronghold, however, with Tiger Woods sitting pretty at number one, followed by Phil Mickelson in second, Jim Furyk third and Steve Stricker in fourth. The highest placed European is the 2007 Open champion Harrington at seventh.

Poulter will line up alongside Rose in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup at Omega Mission Hills in China this week.

WORLD RANKINGS

1 Tiger Woods 21.87pts
2 Phil Mickelson 9.65
3 Jim Furyk 7.33
4 Steve Stricker 7.02
5 Ernie Els 6.80
6 Adam Scott 6.28
7 Padraig Harrington 6.14
8 Justin Rose 6.01
9 Vijay Singh 5.67
10 KJ Choi 5.54
11 Rory Sabbatini 5.49
12 Sergio Garcia 5.29
13 Geoff Ogilvy 5.23
14 Angel Cabrera 4.89
15 Zach Johnson 4.63
16 Henrik Stenson 4.47
17 Luke Donald 4.42
18 Aaron Baddeley 3.80
19 Niclas Fasth 3.72
20 Ian Poulter 3.66