Stanley shrugged off last week’s final-hole collapse at Torrey Pines to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Arizona and move up 35 places to 52nd.

It means, with a second and a first in the last two weeks, Stanley has risen 98 spots in the last fortnight having been ranked 150th in the world before teeing off in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Former Open champion Lawrie, who won the wind-shortened Commercialbank Qatar Masters for the second time, jumped 31 places from 78th to 47th. If he can now hold his top 50 ranking the Scot will earn a return to The Masters for the first time since 2004.

There was little movement at the very top of the list with Luke Donald, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Steve Stricker all holding their top five positions, but behind them Jason Day’s tied second place in Qatar has seen him leap from 10th to 7th.

Tiger Woods, the long-time world number one before his fall from grace, took time off last week to ready himself for this week’s US Tour event at Pebble Beach and slipped a spot from 17th to 18th.

So too did three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson. Despite his top 25 finish at TPC Scottsdale on Sunday, he dropped back a place to 17th, one ahead of Woods and one behind Sergio Garcia, who finished tied fifth in Qatar.

World number one Donald rests up this week but McIlroy, Westwood and Kaymer will all tee it up in the Dubai Desert Classic.

Latest leading positions in the world golf rankings:

1 Luke Donald (Eng)
2 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 7.86
3 Lee Westwood (Eng) 7.54
4 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 6.10
5 Steve Stricker (USA) 5.74
6 Webb Simpson (USA) 5.30
7 Jason Day (Aus) 5.17
8 Adam Scott (Aus) 5. 9 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 5.00
10 Dustin Johnson (USA) 4.78
11 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 4.60
12 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.49
13 Nick Watney (USA) 4.36
14 K J Choi (Kor) 4.23
15 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 4.01
16 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 3.97
17 Phil Mickelson (USA) 3.84
18 Tiger Woods (USA) 3.79
19 Bubba Watson (USA) 3.67
20 Justin Rose (Eng) 3.65
21 Hunter Mahan (USA) 3.65
22 Ian Poulter (Eng) 3.62
23 Bill Haas (USA) 3.61
24 Paul Casey (Eng) 3.55
25 Keegan Bradley (USA) 3.45
26 Simon Dyson (Eng) 3.39
27 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 3.38
28 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 3.37
29 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 3.37
30 David Toms (USA) 3.36
31 Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 3.35
32 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 3.34
33 Bo Van Pelt (USA) 3.34
34 Peter Hanson (Swe) 3.24
35 Jason Dufner (USA) 3.23
36 Anders Hansen (Den) 3.20
37 Rickie Fowler (USA) 3.16
38 Martin Laird (Sco) 3.12
39 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 3.07
40 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 3.06
41 Mark Wilson (USA) 3.05
42 John Senden (Aus) 3.04
43 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 3.01
44 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 2.95
45 Zach Johnson (USA) 2.93
46 Ben Crane (USA) 2.91
47 Paul Lawrie (Sco) 2.91
48 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 2.81
49 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 2.80
50 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 2.76
51 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 2.73
52 Kyle Stanley (USA) 2.69
53 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 2.67
54 Y.E. Yang (Kor) 2.65
55 Darren Clarke (NIrl) 2.62
56 Gary Woodland (USA) 2.51
57 Jonathan Byrd (USA) 2.51
58 Robert Rock (Eng) 2.46
59 Jim Furyk (USA) 2.37
60 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 2.30
61 Greg Chalmers (Aus) 2.28
62 Ernie Els (Rsa) 2.20
63 Kevin Na (USA) 2.17
64 Robert Allenby (Aus) 2.16
65 Ryan Moore (USA) 2.14
66 Charles Howell III (USA) 2.13
67 Joost Luiten (Ned) 2.10
68 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 2.08
69 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 2.08
70 Alexander Noren (Swe) 2.07
71 Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 2.07
72 Spencer Levin (USA) 2.05
73 Johnson Wagner (USA) 2.04
74 Sean O’Hair (USA) 2.02
75 Vijay Singh (Fij) 2.01
76 George Coetzee (Rsa) 1.99
77 Chez Reavie (USA) 1.99
78 Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 1.98
79 Lucas Glover (USA) 1.96
80 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 1.92
81 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 1.89
82 Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 1.87
83 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 1.81
84 Ryan Palmer (USA) 1.81
85 Frazar Harrison (USA) 1.79
86 Jeff Overton (USA) 1.77
87 David Lynn (Eng) 1.76
88 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 1.75
89 Robert Garrigus (USA) 1.73
90 Michael Hoey (NIrl) 1.70
91 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 1.69
92 Branden Grace (Rsa) 1.69
93 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 1.69
94 Gregory Havret (Fra) 1.68
95 D.A. Points (USA) 1.67
96 Brendan Jones (Aus) 1.67
97 Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 1.67
98 Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 1.65
99 Chris Kirk (USA) 1.63
100 Koumei Oda (Jpn) 1.63

The 24-year-old American capitalised on a final round meltdown from compatriot Spencer Levin to card a closing 65 and win his maiden PGA title by one stroke ahead of Ben Crane.

The win was the perfect riposte from Stanley, who had squandered a three-shot lead on the final hole before losing the play-off to Brandt Snedeker at the Farmers seven days previous.

Levin, who started the final day with a six-stroke lead, carded a disastrous 75 on Sunday, opening the door for Stanley who held his nerve on the 18th to complete a fairytale comeback.

Stanley birdied three of his last eight holes in the desert sunshine for a 15-under total to finish one ahead of Crane (66).

Levin had to settle for third place at 13-under, one ahead of DJ Trahan.

More to follow…

The 24-year-old appeared on course for a maiden PGA Tour triumph last Sunday before an extraordinary meltdown saw him take a triple-bogey eight to squander a three-shot advantage.

To compound his misery, Stanley – who had been seven shots clear at one point during that final round – subsequently went on to lose in a play-off to Brandt Snedeker.

The mental scars were clear for all to see as the emotionally-overwhelmed American broke down in a press conference after his loss, but the Washington native insists he is ready to play again and determined to put the record straight.

Work hard

Asked if he considered pulling out of this week’s event, he responded: “If anything probably the opposite. Nothing has changed and nothing is changing.

“I’m just going to continue to work hard and do what I can do each day to get better, and as long as I continue to do that, I’ll be back.”

Kyle Stanley Quotes of the week

“I’m just going to continue to work hard and do what I can do each day to get better, and as long as I continue to do that, I’ll be back.”

However, Stanley has admitted he will learn plenty of lessons from his experience at Torrey Pines, including his teary performance in the press room.

“I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve a little bit, it just kind of came out,” he said. “It was very tough to swallow.

“But that’s one of the things I learned is, I think you need to really be prepared for whatever this game can throw at you.

“It’s a crazy game. It can love you, it can hate you.”

The 24-year-old American had made serene progress on Sunday, holding a seven-shot lead over the field at one stage.

Standing on the tee of the 18th, Stanley held a three-shot lead over Brandt Snedeker. But after laying up at the par five, his third shot agonisingly spun back from pin high to finish in the water.

After taking a penalty drop, Stanley also missed a five-foot putt to card a triple-bogey eight and drop into a play-off.

Snedeker then took the title at the second play-off hole, leaving a dejected Stanley struggling for words after watching what would have been a maiden PGA Tour title slip out of his grasp.

Meltdown

He insisted, though, that he would not let the meltdown affect him for the rest of the season and said he would be back challenging for titles again.

“It’s really tough to take right now. But I know I’ll be back,” said Stanley. “I’m not worried about that.

“I just need to be patient. One of my goals coming into this year was to keep putting myself in position and I’ll do that.”

As for the shot that rolled back into water, he added: “I tried to lay it up close. I thought I had a pretty good shot but it just had too much spin. Looking back, I don’t really know what I was thinking.

“It’s really a pretty straightforward par-five. I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an eight.”

Stanley, seeking a first win in his second season on tour, led by a single shot at the halfway stage but did not have to do anything spectacular to earn his huge advantage, a four-under 68 seeing him surge clear.

Two birdies on the outward nine saw him consolidate his lead as closest pursuers Brandt Snedeker (74) and Sang-Moon Bae (72) gave up ground with disappointing rounds.

The 24-year-old picked up his third birdie of the day from 10 feet at the 10th before giving it back two holes later after overshooting the green, although that proved to be his only blemish of the day.

Two more birdies coming home gave him a share of the 54-hole tournament record with Tiger Woods at 18-under, and it could have been even better had he not missed from four feet at the final hole.

Korean-American John Huh, competing in only his second PGA Tour event after earning his card at qualifying school in December, returned a 68 to share second place with American John Rollins who carded a similar number.

Sang-moon was a further stroke back at 12-under, level with last year’s FedExCup champion Bill Haas, who returned a 70.

Defending champion Bubba Watson carded a 68 to finish at eight under, level with fellow American Dustin Johnson (70) and one better than Britain’s Justin Rose (70).