Updated: April 30, 2012, 6:00 PM ET

2012 Golf Power Rankings: April

Month:

Luke Donald might not be the most dominant player to ever hold the No. 1 ranking in the world, but he's easily one of the most consistent. He heads my power rankings because of that consistency so far this year and his chances to contend in the next several weeks.

Branden Grace won twice in Africa and once in China in fields that weren't as strong as many in the U.S., but it's hard to keep the only player with three wins in 2012 off the list. Cameron Tringale and John Huh made it because they are good young players who have recently shown a knack for showing up on leaderboards. I have a gut feeling that we'll be hearing more about them over the next few months.
-- Farrell Evans

2012 Power Rankings: April
RANK	GOLFER	COMMENT
1	Luke Donald	By not doing much other than winning the Transitions Championship in March, he's made the race for No. 1 in the world a very unglamorous piece of real estate. With a third in New Orleans, he regained the No. 1 spot from Rory McIlroy. Based on last year, he has a lot left in his tank in the next few months to finally get his first major championship.
2	Bubba Watson	The Masters champion didn't have a top-10 in 2011 after winning in New Orleans in April. But this year he's having the most consistent season of his career. To continue to play well the rest of this year, he'll have to manage all the new demands on his time as a major championship winner. At New Orleans this week, in his first start since winning the green jacket, he was dog-tired but still got a tie for 18th.
3	Hunter Mahan	The 29-year-old former Oklahoma State star has won twice this season against strong fields at the WGC-Accenture Match Play and the Shell Houston Open. He had a tie for 12th at the Masters.
4	Louis Oosthuizen	But for Bubba Watson's Houdini act in the Masters playoff, the 29-year-old South African most likely would have gotten his second major championship. A week after Augusta, he won in Malaysia. It's hard to pick a better player in the world right now than Oosthuizen.
5	Phil Mickelson	On May 7, the 40-time PGA Tour winner will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2012, he's had four top-10s, including a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and a tie for third at the Masters. At 41, he is anxious to get the career grand slam with wins at the U.S. Open and the British Open. His first stop on this quest this year will come at the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, where he finished in a tie for 10th in 1998.
6	Steve Stricker	If Phil Mickelson is the best 40-something player in the world, the 45-year-old Wisconsin native isn't far behind him. Since winning the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions, Stricker has grabbed two more top-10s. Last summer, he had wins at the Memorial and the John Deere Classic. With a sixth-place finish in New Orleans, his game is rounding into form for the Players Championship and the U.S. Open.
7	Rory McIlroy	Many expected him to run away with the Masters, but he stunk it up by shooting 9-over par on the weekend. Still, he has had a first, a second and third in his other U.S. starts. This week he's making a return to Quail Hollow, where two years ago he had a breakthrough win with a 62 in the final round.
8	Tiger Woods	After ending his nearly three-year winless drought in March at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the 14-time major winner was the favorite to win his fifth green jacket. But at Augusta, he struggled with his golf swing. He has Quail Hollow, the Players Championship and the Memorial to show that the strides he made at Bay Hill weren't a fluke as he tries to get his game in peak form before heading to the Olympic Club for the U.S. Open.
9	Lee Westwood	At 39 years old with 34 worldwide wins, Westwood is the most accomplished player in the world without a major championship. Two weeks ago he got his first win of 2012 at the Indonesian Masters.
10	Branden Grace	In 2012, the 23-year-old South African has won three times on the European Tour. His most recent win came at the Volvo China Open in mid-April. Only Seve Ballesteros and Sandy Lyle have won three times in a season on that tour at a younger age. The Pretoria native has risen to 66th in the world despite being 271st on Jan. 1.
11	Carl Pettersson	Since missing two straight cuts, the 34-year-old former North Carolina State star has had a second at the Shell Houston Open and a win at the RBC Heritage. Comfortably chubby after trying a few years ago to slim down, he's ready to take on the golf world on his own terms.
12	Justin Rose	At the Masters, the 31-year-old Englishman had a tie for eighth, his sixth top-10 in a major. In March, he had an impressive win at Doral after getting a tie for fifth the week before at the Honda Classic.
13	Jason Dufner	In New Orleans, the 35-year-old former Auburn Tiger got his maiden PGA Tour victory in his 164th start. Last year he followed a tie for third in New Orleans with a tie for sixth at the Players Championship. After three runner-up finishes, he finally put it all together a week before his wedding.
14	Peter Hanson	The Swede has quietly climbed to 24th in the world with some very consistent play. In 2012, he's had four top-5s worldwide, including a third at the Masters.
15	Ernie Els	The 42-year-old, three-time major winner couldn't get it done in a Zurich Classic playoff against Jason Dufner, but he'll win again very soon. He's not the same player who has won 18 times, especially with the putter, but he's still good enough to be a regular winner on tour.
16	Matt Kuchar	The former U.S. Amateur has four top-10s on the season, and he almost never misses a cut. If you had to pick a player at the start of the season who's most likely to lead the top-10 list, he would be your guy. In April, he had his best Masters with a tie for third.
17	Zach Johnson	At the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship, the 2007 Masters winner jumpstarted his season with a tie for sixth. From there he had three more top-10s, including a tie for third at the John Deere Classic and a fourth at Colonial. Two weeks ago, he had a second at the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head.
18	Keegan Bradley	It was the summer of 2011 when most of us first took notice of Bradley after he won at the Byron Nelson in a playoff. The rest of the story is now well-known: the PGA Championship win in dramatic style over Jason Dufner. This year he's had three top-10s, including a tie for second at the Northern Trust Open.
19	John Huh	The 21-year-old Los Angeles resident is the favorite right now to become the PGA Tour rookie of the year with a win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and a tie for second in his last start at the Valero Texas Open. In Texas, he went 15-under par during his last 63 holes.
20	Cameron Tringale	The 24-year-old former Georgia Tech star has top-10s in his last three starts. He's not well-known yet outside of the tour, where he's highly regarded as a nice guy with an excellent golf swing. By the end of the year, he'll probably win a tournament.