Bekker’s consistency takes him closer to world’s top 100

Apr 26, 2022 | Featured, Rankings

While fans were watching the action at the tops of leaderboards in tournaments in South Africa, the United States, Spain and Japan last week, Oliver Bekker quietly improved his Official World Golf Ranking position to become South Africa’s 10^th highest ranked golfer.

Bekker, who finished in a share of 10^th in the DP World Tour’s ISPS Handa Championship in Spain, edged ever closer to the top 100 in the world, climbing six places to 112^th. It’s a career-high for the 37-year-old from Pretoria, and reward for a season which now boasts five top-10 finishes in eight starts on the DP World Tour after he played his way onto that circuit through the Challenge Tour last year.

He started the year ranked 159^th, and has climbed in the rankings slowly and steadily, despite missing the cut in the first tournament of the year, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. He missed just one other cut, in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Besides those two hiccups, his worst performance was a share of 11^th in the MyGolfLife Open at Pecanwood.

There was also a substantial improvement for the man who finished in a share of third in Spain, Hennie du Plessis. He moved inside the world’s top 150 to 146^th, a climb of 35 places. That makes him the 13^th-ranked South African on the list.

Jaco Ahlers, who won the Stella Artois Players Championship at Dainfern on the weekend, was the biggest climber on the official rankings. He climbed 107 places to be inside the world’s top 200 at 192^nd.

South Africa’s top-ranked golfer remains Louis Oosthuizen, who was unchanged in 15^th place as he recuperates from an injury sustained in South Carolina the week before. Erik van Rooyen, unchanged in 58^th, and Shaun Norris, unchanged in 62^nd, round out the top three South Africans on the list.

South Africa’s top 10