The saying goes that winning takes care of everything, and Jacques Kruyswijk rode the best performance of his career to climb 145 places on the latest list released by the Official World Golf Ranking.

Kruyswijk’s great weekend in the Magical Kenya Open took him to his first DP World Tour victory, and his new ranking of 216^th puts him within touching distance of the world’s top 200 according to the official rankings, as well as with his career-high of 192^nd which he reached after winning the Sunshine Tour’s post-Covid Sunshine Tour Invitational in September 2021.

His previous best performance as rated by the OWGR was his victory in the 2016 Africa Open.

His win in Nairobi means he rockets up the list of the top South African players according to the official list. He is now ranked eighth amongst South Africa.

Almost winning was also good to Aldrich Potgieter: He was runner-up after losing a play-off on the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open, and he climbed 89 places up the rankings to 109^th. It’s by far the best performance of his career, and he is now close to breaking in to the world’s top 100. He’s also the fifth-best South African.

Jayden Schaper’s fourth-place finish in Kenya saw him jump 33 places, leapfrogging, amongst others, Louis Oosthuizen to 22th spot and inside South Africa’s top 10 in 10^th place.

Deon Germishuys was third in Nairobi, and he also had a substantial boost to his rankings, climbing 76 places to 316^th.

South Africa’s top golfer remained Christiaan Bezuidenhout in 51^st place.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 51 (unchanged)
2. Thriston Lawrence 59 (down 2)
3. Erik van Rooyen 87 (up 1)
4. Shaun Norris 106 (down 1)
5. Aldrich Potgieter 109 (up 89)
6. Dean Burmester 132 (down 1)
7. Daniel van Tonder 163 (up 8)
8. Jacques Kruyswijk 216 (up 145)
9. Robin Williams 225 (down 4)
10. Jayden Schaper 226 (up 33)
11. Louis Oosthuizen 234 (down 4)
12. Christo Lamprecht 250 (down 4)
13. Zander Lombard 268 (unchanged)
14. Brandon Stone 275 (down 2)
15. Barend Botha 285 (down 2)
16. Wilco Nienaber 289 (down 1)
17. Casey Jarvis 301 (up 5)
18. Ryan van Velzen 303 (up 14)
19. Deon Germishuys 316 (up 76)
20. Garrick Higgo 317 (down 7)
21. Dylan Frittelli 333 (down 5)
22. Jonathan Broomhead 376 (up 1)
23. Charl Schwartzel 403 (down 3)
24. Thomas Aiken 405 (up 2)
25. Jaco Ahlers 407 (up 4)