Thomas Aiken has climbed 79 places on the latest list issued this week by the Official World Golf Ranking to 414^th after his share of seventh last week in the DP World Tour’s KLM Open in the Netherlands.

Although he is a long way off his career-high of 73^rd, which he achieved after winning the 2011 Open de Espana, the improvement in the rankings marked a significant step towards getting back into a position on the official list which more accurately reflects his abilities.

Aiken also got inside the world’s top 80 when he won the 2014 Africa Open at East London Golf Club. He climbed to 79^th then, and has had many other forays inside the world’s top 100.

The boost to his position also took him inside the list of South Africa’s 25 best golfers according to the official rankings as he displaced Jbe’ Kruger, who fell 11 places to 451^st.

At the top of the South African list, Christiaan Bezuidenhout’s strong finish in the PGA Tour’s final Signature event of the season, the Travelers Championship, saw him climb one place to 39^th. He’s edging closer to his career-high of 33^rd in a season which is solid rather than spectacular. One really strong performance should propel him towards the world’s top 25.

Of the players who campaign on the DP World Tour, Thriston Lawrence remained the top-ranked South African, unchanged at 94^th as the European-based circuit moves towards a busy period with tournaments carrying appropriately higher numbers of world ranking points.

Below Lawrence, Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Deon Germishuys and Robin Williams all rode solid performances to higher rankings. They should all benefit from the busy European summer, although Williams will have to make do with Challenge Tour starts ahead of his DP World Tour status kicking in this coming November. Germishuys will also have to play more tournaments on that circuit as the summer events in Europe attract more highly-ranked players.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 39 (up 1)
2. Erik van Rooyen 66 (up 1)
3. Thriston Lawrence 94 (unchanged)
4. Dean Burmester 113 (up 1)
5. Zander Lombard 130 (down 3)
6. Louis Oosthuizen 140 (down 2)
7. Garrick Higgo 221 (down 7)
8. Hennie du Plessis 248 (down 5)
9. Dylan Frittelli 257 (down 6)
10. Casey Jarvis 300 (up 18)
11. Ryan van Velzen 302 (down 5)
12. Jayden Schaper 306 (up 6)
13. Deon Germishuys 307 (up 15)
14. Robin Williams 312 (up 9)
15. Ockie Strydom 325 (down 10)
16. Shaun Norris 337 (down 8)
17. Louis de Jager 352 (down 13)
18. Jacques Kruyswijk 354 (down 19)
19. Aldrich Potgieter 363 (down 3)
20. Wilco Nienaber 375 (down 2)
21. Jaco Ahlers 381 (down 11)
22. Brandon Stone 392 (down 10)
23. Darren Fichardt 397 (down 5)
24. Oliver Bekker 410 (down 17)
25. Thomas Aiken 414 (up 79)