Christiaan Bezuidenhout was back on the rise on the latest Official World Golf Ranking list this week as he climbed five places to 53^rd with his share of third in the DP World Tour’s ISPS HANDA-Championship at the weekend.

While he is not a member of the DP World Tour, his performance offered evidence in support of the importance of the idea of pushing towards a world tour with a single schedule and a more equitable allocation of points as he moved closer to the top 50 in the world.

His climb was not the most dramatic by a South African, however: Wilco Nienaber leapt 75 spots to 349^th on the official list, with his second-place finish in the UAE Challenge on the Challenge Tour. It’s intriguing to wonder how high he would have climbed had he hung on to win, as he should have. He’s still a long way off his best ranking of 131^st, which he reached after winning the Dimension Data Pro-Am back in 2021.

Others to get a boost from their performances in the DP World Tour tournament, like Bezuidenhout, were Casey Jarvis, up nine to 286^th, Jacques Kruyswijk, up five to 296^th, and Shaun Norris, up eight to 337^th.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 53 (up 5)
2. Erik van Rooyen 63 (up 1)
3. Thriston Lawrence 95 (down 1)
4. Zander Lombard 112 (down 1)
5. Louis Oosthuizen 120 (down 1)
6. Dean Burmester 126 (down 4)
7. Garrick Higgo 185 (down 3)
8. Dylan Frittelli 223 (down 4)
9. Hennie du Plessis 227 (down 1)
10. Ryan van Velzen 276 (down 3)
11. Ockie Strydom 281 (down 7)
12. Casey Jarvis 286 (up 9)
13. Louis de Jager 295 (down 6)
14. Jacques Kruyswijk 296 (up 5)
15. Jayden Schaper 318 (down 9)
16. Deon Germishuys 328 (down 6)
17. Aldrich Potgieter 335 (down 1)
18. Shaun Norris 337 (up 8)
19. Oliver Bekker 346 (down 9)
20. Wilco Nienaber 349 (up 75)
21. Jaco Ahlers 356 (down 5)
22. MJ Daffue 369 (down 10)
23. Darren Fichardt 372 (down 9)
24. Jbe’ Kruger 379 (down 3)
25. Robin Williams 391 (down 1)