Gaganjeet Bhullar is now the top Indian golfer in world rankings as he achieved a career-best ranking of 85 after his runner-up finish at the Avantha Masters last week.

Bhullar’s previous best was 88th achieved towards the end of last year. Jeev Milkha Singh, who once ranked in the top-30, is the second best Indian at 104. In March 2009, Jeev was ranked 28th, the best-ever by an Indian. He was in the top-50 for a total of 68 weeks between late 2006 and early 2009.

Anirban Lahiri is ranked 158th and Shiv Kapur is at 204.

Bhullar, a four-time Asian Tour winner, is now on top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit where he leads with earnings of USD 262,648. “There were plenty of positives from the week. I was hitting it straight throughout the tournament and my iron-striking also improved.

My course management has improved a lot over the last seven years on the Asian Tour,” said Bhullar.

The 24-year-old will continue his rivalry with Aiken at the USD 2.75 million Maybank Malaysian Open which gets underway on Thursday.