Malcolm Mitchell’s fast finish for second place in last week’s Sunshine Tour tournament gave him a 72-place boost in the latest Official World Golf Ranking list released this week.

His closing 66 saw him finish behind the winner Kieran Vincent of Zimbabwe in the KitKat Cash & Carry Pro-am at Irene Country Club, and he jumped to 728^th from 800^th on the official rankings. He’s some way off his career-best ranking of 527^th, but he is trending in the right direction.

Mitchell was one of three players who enjoyed a boost thanks to their performances behind Vincent. Jacques Blaauw was up 60 places to 800^th and Kyle Barker was up 25 places to 69^th. All three of those remain outside South Africa’s top 25 ranked players.

Remaining at the top of the top 25 was Christiaan Bezuidenhout who was unchanged in 57^th place after his share of 17^th on the PGA Tour. Erik van Rooyen was unchanged in 65^th, and Thriston Lawrence was down two in 106^th.

After Dean Burmester’s good move from his solid performance in the PGA Championship the previous week, he began his LIV-induced slide down the rankings again as he dropped three places to 108^th.

Louis Oosthuizen remains the only other LIV-based South African inside the local top 25, and he was down one place to 130^th.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 57 (unchanged)
2. Erik van Rooyen 65 (unchanged)
3. Thriston Lawrence 106 (down 2)
4. Dean Burmester 108 (down 3)
5. Zander Lombard 121 (down 2)
6. Louis Oosthuizen 130 (down 1)
7. Garrick Higgo 204 (down 12)
8. Hennie du Plessis 233 (down 11)
9. Dylan Frittelli 247 (down 9)
10. Ryan van Velzen 289 (down 3)
11. Casey Jarvis 302 (down 10)
12. Ockie Strydom 306 (down 8)
13. Jacques Kruyswijk 316 (down 8)
14. Louis de Jager 319 (down 13)
15. Jayden Schaper 330 (up 4)
16. Shaun Norris 335 (up 6)
17. Deon Germishuys 342 (down 3)
18. Aldrich Potgieter 346 (down 6)
19. Jaco Ahlers 362 (up 1)
20. Oliver Bekker 374 (down 14)
21. Brandon Stone 363 (up 2)
22. Wilco Nienaber 371 (down 9)
23. Darren Fichardt 367 (unchanged)
24. Robin Williams 378 (down 2)
25. Jbe’ Kruger 412 (down 11)

Outside the top 25:

• Malcolm Mitchell moved up 72 spots from 800 to 728
• Jacques Blaauw moved up 60 spots from 860 to 800
• Kyle Barker moved up 25 spots from 719 to 694