Hennie du Plessis got a solid boost from his share of second place last week in the Jonsson Workwear Open as he climbed 44 places on the latest Official World Golf Ranking list.

Du Plessis, who reached his career high of 122^nd in last year’s Soudal Open with his share of 15^th there in May last year, has been on a downward trend recently, especially with missed cuts in the Magical Kenya Open and the SDC Championship. His assured showing at Steyn City lifted him to 175^th.

The man with whom he shared second at the weekend, Zander Lombard, also got a 44-place jump on the rankings to 187^th. That’s his best-ever position on the list, a reward for his third top-10 finish of the year on the DP World Tour. A breakthrough win seems just around the corner for him.

Ockie Strydom also reached a career-high of 133^rd, a climb of 13 places, after he finished in a share of fourth at Steyn City.

Other than George Coetzee’s four-place rise to 233^rd, it was all downward for the rest of the top 20 South Africans on the world rankings.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout remains South Africa’s top-ranked golfer, and he was down one place to 73^rd after his elimination during pool play of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

South Africa’s top 20:

1. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 73 (down 1)
2. Dean Burmester 78 (down 4)
3. Thriston Lawrence 87 (down 1)
4. Louis Oosthuizen 112 (down 8)
5. Oliver Bekker 114 (down 1)
6. Erik van Rooyen 121 (down 4)
7. Ockie Strydom 133 (up 13)
8. MJ Daffue 157 (down 5)
9. Dylan Frittelli 174 (down 1)
10. Hennie du Plessis 175 (up 44)
11. Shaun Norris 177 (down 3)
12. Zander Lombard 187 (up 44)
13. Garrick Higgo 188 (down 3)
14. Charl Schwartzel 209 (down 8)
15. Branden Grace 225 (down 7)
16. George Coetzee 233 (up 4)
17. Justin Harding 259 (down 11)
18. JC Ritchie 253 (down 6)
19. Louis de Jager 258 (down 2)
20. Jaco Ahlers 276 (down 4)