Haotong Li's sublime third-place finish in The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale saw him break into the top ten of the European Tour's Race to Dubai presented by Rolex Rankings for the first time.
The 21 year old Chinese prodigy clinched a substantial 596,286 points with a second consecutive appearance at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, taking place at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 16-19, already a likelihood.
Two-time DP World Tour Championship winner Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland finished in tied fourth on five under par with Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open winner Rafa Cabrera Bello. Matthew Southgate was a stroke further back alongside Brooks Koepka, Branden Grace, Alex Noren and Marc Leishman.
Southgate, who spent the week of the 2015 Open receiving treatment for testicular cancer, finished 12th at Royal Troon last year and made sure of an even better finish with a closing 65.
McIlroy and Cabrera Bello each sealed 418,446 points, with McIlroy climbing from 22nd place to 11th, while Cabrera Bello strengthened his fourth-place position in the Race to Dubai Rankings after increasing his season tally to 2,084,367 points.
Noren, Grace and Southgate gained 244,965 points each, with Noren solidifying fifth place in the season Rankings as he increased his total to 1,825,752 points. Grace jumped from 45th place to 25th, while Southgate catapulted from 30th to 17th.
Henrik Stenson, last year's Open Champion, shared 11th place with Paul Casey and the USA's Chan Kim. The reigning Race to Dubai Champion claimed 152,849 points and progressed from 16th to 15th.
Englishmen Ian Poulter and Chris Wood and Canada's Austin Connelly all shared 14th and, in the process, each gained 112,384 points. Poulter broke into the Race to Dubai's top 60 to put himself in contention for the prestigious DP World Tour Championship at the end of the season, moving from 80th to 57th. While Wood climbed from 43rd to 34th, Connelly jumped 55 places as he moved from 167th to 112th.
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood remains at the head of the Rankings with 3,690,659 points, whilst Spaniard Sergio Garcia is in second with a season-tally of 2,741,107 points and his young compatriot Jon Rahm sits in third spot on 2,680,971.
