Erik van Rooyen’s emotional victory on the PGA Tour on the weekend has seen him become South Africa’s top-ranked player according to the latest Official World Golf Ranking list issued this week.

It’s been a steady upward climb for Van Rooyen over recent weeks, but his 107-place leap this week lifted him to 82^nd in the world. That’s a lot closer to his career-best of 40^th which came after his share of third in the WGC-Mexico Championship in 2020 than the time he spent lurking outside the top 200 in the world.

The victory propelled him past Thriston Lawrence, who held the top South African spot for a number of months. However, ahead of this week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge, the South African Open champion is perilously close to dropping out of the world’s top 100, and he is now 17 places behind Van Rooyen in 99^th.

There was also a nice climb for Shaun Norris with his solo second place on the Japan Golf Tour, which has been such a happy hunting ground for him over the last few years. He got a 65-place bump from that performance, and is South Africa’s 16^th-ranked player at 383^rd.

Neil Schietekat climbed 35 places on the rankings to 608^th, but he is well outside South Africa’s top 20. Jbe’ Kruger holds down the 20^th place with his position at 398^th on the list.

South Africa’s top 20:

1. Erik van Rooyen 82 (up 107)
2. Thriston Lawrence 99 (down 4)
3. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 116 (down 9)
4. Dean Burmester 144 (down 5)
5. Garrick Higgo 170 (down 1)
6. Zander Lombard 171 (down 1)
7. Hennie du Plessis 212 (down 2)
8. MJ Daffue 223 (down 5)
9. Ockie Strydom 237 (down 1)
10. Louis de Jager 260 (down 1)
11. Jaco Ahlers 276 (down 5)
12. Oliver Bekker 283 (down 19)
13. Casey Jarvis 309 (down 2)
14. Deon Germishuys 335 (down 1)
15. George Coetzee 338 (down 5)
16. Shaun Norris 383 (up 65)
17. Dylan Frittelli 384 (down 13)
18. JC Ritchie 386 (down 6)
19. Jacques Kruyswijk 389 (down 3)
20. Jbe’ Kruger 398 (down 7)