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Nathan Kimsey became the first Englishman to win the Challenge Tour points list since 2016 after securing his second victory of the season at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada in Mallorca.

The 29-year-old from Lincolnshire posted a closing 70 to move to nine under and secure a one-stroke victory over countryman John Parry and South African Bryce Easton, who shared second place to both break into the Road to Mallorca top 20 and clinch a place on next season’s DP World Tour.

Kimsey started the final day slowly with four pars and a bogey in his first five holes, however after carding birdies at 6 and 8 he climbed to the top of the leaderboard before an eagle at the par-five 13th essentially sealed a memorable victory.

“I’m knackered. Wining golf tournaments isn’t easy,” said Kimsey, whose lifted him five places to the top of the rankings. “That was a battle out there. I didn’t have my best stuff, but I hit some good shots and holed some putts when it mattered. I’m a jumble of emotions – relief, happiness, just everything. Coming into the week, knowing I had it in my own hands, if I won to then finish as number on, it just feels great. I just tried to keep grinding. Nerves were a part of it so it was about trying to battle that and hit solid shots. I wanted to keep myself in with a chance coming up the last few holes and I did that.”

He added: “At the start of the year we all have it as a goal to get your card, so to come here and win this tournament and become number one, is just awesome. The card was wrapped up, but I just wanted to finish as high as possible to secure as many starts as possible next year, so I knew it was tight at the top. With a lot of points on offer this week, you’re trying to have a good week, while everyone is fighting for the same thing around you.”

Kimsey, who won the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge earlier this season, finished 48,894 points ahead of Switzerland’s Jeremy Freiburghaus, who came second on the Rankings, with German Alexander Knappe finishing third. Ten-time Sunshine Tour winner JC Ritchie graduated in fourth place with Swede Mikael Lindberg finishing fifth and completing the quintet who will benefit from the John Jacobs Bursary Award next season.

Lindberg’s fellow Swede Jens Dantorp finished sixth, while Daniel Hillier, from New Zealand, finished in seventh place. Number Eight Oliver Hundebøll was one of two Danes to secure graduation alongside Martin Simonsen, who finished the season in 14th place, while German Freddy Schott and Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin rounded out the top ten. Northern Irishman McKibbin, aged just 19, was the youngest man in the field and climbed five places to tenth on the Rankings with a tie for sixth in Mallorca.

Parry, Easton and England’s Matthew Baldwin all made a final day move into the top 20, finishing 17th, 18th and 19th, while the final DP World Tour card belongs to South African Deon Germishuys, who finished just 1,507 points ahead of Poland’s Mateusz Gradecki, who narrowly missed out on graduation.

The final Road to Mallorca Rankings can be found here, with the top 20 receiving the DP World Tour cards for 2023.

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There’s a new No. 1 golfer in the world who doubles as an old No. 1 golfer in the world. With his victory at the 2022 CJ Cup on Sunday afternoon, Rory McIlroy returned to the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time since July 2020 and ninth time in his career.

In taking down Kurt Kitayama and K.H. Lee, it was McIlroy who overtook Scottie Scheffler, ending the 2022 Masters champion’s 30-week run at No. 1.

Even more remarkable than McIlroy regaining the No. 1 ranking is that he has sustained a level of greatness over the last decade. This marks McIlroy’s ninth different stint at No. 1 just over 10 years after his debut in March 2012 shortly after he became a professional.

A lot has happened over the last decade, but McIlroy has not fallen out of the top 15 in the world in that time. He’s one of just three golfers who have a 10-year gap between their first appearance as world No. 1 and their most recent. The other two are Tiger Woods (17 years) and Greg Norman (11.5). Nobody else more than a 3.5-year gap between appearances.

“I guess that’s where I say like the cool thing about it is you get to No. 1, and it feels great in the moment,” said McIlroy earlier this week. “The bad thing is you almost [have] to … maybe work harder to stay there. I think, when you’re striving toward something, not that it’s easier to get there, but like once you get there, it’s great. But I think the hard work is actually staying there.

“I think if I get back to No. 1 this week, it’s like my ninth time getting back. It sort of illustrates you can have your runs and you can stay there, but I think the cool part is the journey and the journey getting back there. It’s sort of like a heavyweight boxer losing a world title and it’s a journey to get that title back. I feel like that’s the cool part of it and that’s the journey that I’ve sort of been through over the past 12 months.”

McIlroy has indeed been playing some of the best golf of his career over the last year. In his last 15 starts worldwide, he has 12 top 10s, 10 top fives, three wins and just one missed cut. Since the start of 2022, he’s been far and away the best statistical player in the world at over 2.7 strokes gained per round. The next closest coming into this week at the CJ Cup was Scheffler (2.5).

In a year in which McIlroy disappointingly did not win a major championship — though he finished in the top 10 in all four — it’s a bit of a reprieve that he essentially accomplished everything else: a FedEx Cup victory, three wins on the PGA Tour, close to $30 million in on-course earnings (including FedEx Cup bonus money) and a return trip to the top of the OWGR table. It’s been a remarkable showing.

Here’s a look at all nine times McIlroy has been the No. 1 player in the world.

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