While the focus in the weekly update of the Official World Golf Ranking is on the top players from South Africa on the list, a player like Hennie du Plessis is quietly making progress in his quest for a place in the international sun.

Du Plessis, who finished third in December’s South African Open Championship, has eased inside the world’s top 200 according to the latest ranking. He’s at a career-high 197^th, having started the year at 219^th – all without playing a shot in a tournament this year yet. He is now South Africa’s 13^th-best player according to the rankings. The rankings make adjustments on a weekly basis and players move up and down the list as points are awarded and lost at tournaments around the world.

Du Plessis picked up his biggest-ever points haul at the SA Open at Sun City for finishing four shots behind champion Daniel van Tonder, and now he will get his 2022 campaign underway on Friday in the Sunshine Tour’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City. With seven top-10s in world ranking events last year, Du Plessis is pushing hard to get inside the list of South Africa’s top 10 players – and even inside the world’s top 100.

South Africa’s top-ranked player remains Louis Oosthuizen, who is now outside the top 10 at 12^th, and he is one of eight players inside the world’s top 100. The others are Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Erik van Rooyen, Garrick Higgo, Dean Burmester, Shaun Norris, Daniel van Tonder and Branden Grace.

Of those players, Norris will be the highest-ranked South African in the field at Sun City, his 71^st spot giving a normally strong Sunshine Tour field even more credibility.

South Africa’s top 10

1. Louis Oosthuizen (12 – unchanged)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (52 – down 2)
3. Erik van Rooyen (63 – unchanged)
4. Garrick Higgo (65 – down 5)
5. Dean Burmester (69 – up 1)
6. Shaun Norris (71 – down 4)
7. Daniel van Tonder (75 – down 4)
8. Branden Grace (77 – down 4)
9. Charl Schwartzel (119 – down 3)
10. Justin Harding (122 – down 4)