Oosthuizen up 105 spots on latest Official World Golf Ranking list

Nov 4, 2025 | Featured, Features, Rankings

While there is no way Official World Golf Ranking points can be available to LIV Golf on a similar basis to other conventional tours, the curious case of Louis Oosthuizen shows that some sort of rankings agreement needs to be reached – sooner, rather than later.

Oosthuizen was the biggest South African climber on the latest official lists after his share of third on the points-bearing Asian Tour’s Link Hong Kong Open last week. The 2010 Open champion showed he remains a force in world golf beyond the carnival-inspired breakaway tour as he leapt 105 places to 409th.

The absurdity of the stand-off is underlined by his position on the list, as everything about his game suggests he should be placed higher. As it is, he climbed back inside the list of South Africa’s top 25 players – officially – to be placed at 22nd.

That he is objectively a better player than that, without wishing to detract from the abilities of the South Africans ranked above him, is self-evident.

Above him, the two players who did so well in the HotelPlanner Tour’s Rolex Grand Final in Mallorca were rewarded with good boosts in the rankings: JC Ritchie, who topped the tour’s rankings for the 2025 season, was up four places to 154th, as he edges closer to his career-high of 11th. And Daniel van Tonder, who shared third in the tournament, was up six places to 226th. His career-high is 71st.

At the top of the South African list, Thriston Lawrence remains the country’s best player, up one place this eek to 64th. And Garrick Higgo has risen to 77th, the third-best South African, one place above Christiaan Bezuidenhout

It was a good week for South Africans, 12 of whom inside the country’s top 25 were up in the official lists. Most of those rises were not as a result of any tournament action. Those players are noted in bold below.

South Africa’s top 25: