It wasn’t a great week on course for Christiaan Bezuidenhout with his share of 42nd in the Honda Classic on the PGA Tour, but he climbed three places on the Official World Golf Ranking to 75th.
With South Africa’s top-ranked player Dean Burmester down three places to 66th after his debut in LIV Golf in Mexico saw him finish 21st, and with no apparent plans for Burmester to play where he can outside LIV in the break ahead of the next tournament on March 17 in Tucson, Arizona, it’s just a matter of time before Bezuidenhout will become South Africa’s top-ranked player.
Burmester will have the consolation of having won close to R3.4-million for his efforts in Mexico, but a lightning-quick trip to the Magical Kenya Open on the DP World Tour, where he can still play, would have done something to shore up his flagging rankings.
Louis Oosthuizen is experiencing an increasingly rapid descent on the world rankings, dropping seven places this week to 84th, and being overtaken by Thirston Lawrence, who was up two to 81st.
Dylan Frittelli and MJ Daffue had better weeks than Bezuidenhout on the PGA Tour, and they both climbed: Daffue was up four to 157th and Frittelli up seven to 165th.
There was a big climb for the Sunshine Tour’s Nelson Mandela Bay Championship winner, Dylan Mostert. He starts the week in a career-high 339th, up 91 places from 430th the week before.
South Africa’s top 20:
- Dean Burmester 66 (down 3)
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout 75 (up 3)
- Thriston Lawrence 81 (up 2)
- Louis Oosthuizen 84 (down 7)
- Oliver Bekker 107 (down 1)
- Erik van Rooyen 120 (down 7)
- Ockie Strydom 146 (up 1)
- MJ Daffue 157 (up 4)
- Shaun Norris 161 (down 1)
- Dylan Frittelli 165 (up 7)
- Garrick Higgo 172 (down 13)
- Charl Schwartzel 188 (down 4)
- Hennie du Plessis 212 (down 2)
- Branden Grace 217 (unchanged)
- Justin Harding 222 (down 6)
- Zander Lombard 234 (unchanged)
- George Coetzee 240 (down 2)
- JC Ritchie 253 (down 3)
- Louis de Jager 258 (down 3)
- Daniel van Tonder 279 (down 8)
