Four South African men inside the top 300 of the Official World Golf Ranking improved their positions this week, and it meant that there are now seven of them inside the world’s top 100.
Shaun Norris’ third position in the Joburg Open took him up 11 spots to 100th, with Louis Oosthuizen the highest-ranked South African in 20th. Erik van Rooyen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dylan Frittelli, George Coetzee and Garrick Higgo make up the balance of those inside the top 100.
The biggest climber was Wilco Nienaber, who was 86 positions higher after his near-miss at the Joburg Open. His runner-up finish there moved him into 209th, and he’ll surely move closer to the top 100 with good finishes in the Alfred Dunhill Championship this week and the South African Open Championship the following.
Brandon Stone, who finished in a share of fourth, climbed 18 positions into 204th. Dylan Frittelli, despite missing the cut in the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour, rose one spot into 70th.
If Branden Grace, Justin Harding and Daniel van Tonder manage to produce barnstorming finishes to the year, they can make it 10 inside the top 100 – and astonished 10 percent of the top players in the world, and a position the country found itself in just a few short years ago.
As it is, seven percent ain’t half bad!
South Africa’s top 20 men
20 Louis Oosthuizen
53 Erik van Rooyen
61 Christiaan Bezuidenhout
70 Dylan Frittelli
95 George Coetzee
97 Garrick Higgo
100 Shaun Norris
132 Branden Grace
144 Justin Harding
148 Daniel van Tonder
187 JC Ritchie
195 Charl Schwartzel
204 Brandon Stone
205 Dean Burmester
209 Wilco Nienaber
241 Darren Fichardt
247 Jaco Ahlers
274 Justin Walters
291 Richard Sterne
293 Louis de Jager
