Jaco Ahlers shot up 42 places on the Official World Golf Ranking list which was released on Monday after his maiden Asian Tour victory over the weekend and moved back inside the world’s top 300 fir the first time since slipping out in the middle of May.

Ahlers has moved into 264^th place, which makes him the 11^th-ranked South African according to the official list. That puts him one spot behind Zander Lombard, who was unchanged in 259^th this week.

Ahlers reached his career-high of 139^th on the world rankings back in 2015 when he won the Investec Cup at the Lost City at Sun City. That brought him his equal-highest haul of points with 14, matching the points he received for winning four of his other Sunshine Tour titles. The victory in the Mercuries Taiwan Masters brought him just 4.31576 points, illustrating just how the current world ranking system undervalues tours which are not the PGA Tour.

In other climbs for South Africans inside the top 20 on the list, Hennie du Plessis was up seven places without playing a shot in a tournament to 189^th, becoming the fifth-best South African in the rankings. He swopped places with MJ Daffue. Casey Jarvis and Jbe’ Kruger were up two and three spots respectively, and Jacques Kruyswijk got back inside the world’s top 400 with a 10-place rise.

South Africa’s top-ranked golfer remains Thriston Lawrence in 89^th.

South Africa’s top 20:

1. Thriston Lawrence 89 (unchanged)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 111 (unchanged)
3. Dean Burmester 119 (down 4)
4. Garrick Higgo 164 (unchanged)
5. Hennie du Plessis 189 (up 7)
6. MJ Daffue 194 (down 3)
7. Erik van Rooyen 201 (down 1)
8. Ockie Strydom 211 (down 1)
9. Oliver Bekker 227 (down 3)
10. Zander Lombard 259 (unchanged)
11. Jaco Ahlers 264 (up 42)
12. Casey Jarvis 288 (up 2)
13. Deon Germishuys 300 (down 2)
14. Louis de Jager 310 (unchanged)
15. George Coetzee 323 (down 4)
16. JC Ritchie 333 (down 2)
17. Dylan Frittelli 353 (down 6)
18. Jbe Kruger 380 (up 3)
19. Louis Oosthuizen 390 (down 1)
20. Jacques Kruyswijk 395 (up 10)