Thriston Lawrence had the biggest week of his career to date with his share of fourth place in the Open Championship at Royal Troon giving him a haul of 30 points on the latest list issued by the Official World Golf Ranking.
That saw the 2022 South African Open champion climb 27 places in the rankings to 71st, which is just eight places lower than his career-high of 63rd achieved soon after he won his national open title.
The other South Africans who benefited from their Open performances were Dean Burmester and Darren Fichardt. Burmester finished in a share of 19th and went up 24 places to 104th. His big climb is, of course, partly a function of the fact that he plays with LIV Golf which gives him no access to more regular points-bearing tournament. Fichardt finished 80th and went up nine places to 401st.
The advantages of playing in the United States on the PGA Tour were starkly illustrated by Jayden Schaper’s nice climb of 34 places to 299th, thanks to his share of 13th in the Barracuda Championship. He is now just 25 places below his career-high of 274th. He moves to 10th on the lost of South Africa’s best players according to the official rankings.
South Africa’s top 25:
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout 46 (down 3)
- Erik van Rooyen 69 (down 3)
- Thriston Lawrence 71 (up 27)
- Dean Burmester 104 (up 24)
- Zander Lombard 150 (down 6)
- Louis Oosthuizen 161 (down 6)
- Garrick Higgo 251 (down 10)
- Dylan Frittelli 271 (down 4)
- Hennie du Plessis 278 (down 5)
- Jayden Schaper 299 (up 34)
- Casey Jarvis 319 (down 4)
- Ryan van Velzen 327 (down 6)
- Robin Williams 330 (down 1)
- Deon Germishuys 335 (down 4)
- Aldrich Potgieter 337 (down 5)
- Shaun Norris 338 (down 3)
- Jacques Kruyswijk 357 (down 6)
- Brandon Stone 359 (down 5)
- Ockie Strydom 366 (down 9)
- Louis de Jager 368 (down 9)
- Wilco Nienaber 395 (down 9)
- Darren Fichardt 401 (up 9)
- Jaco Ahlers 403 (down 7)
- Thomas Aiken 413 (down 10)
- Oliver Bekker 449 (down 12)