While the Official World Golf Ranking is not the most reliable indicator of how good a player is in these confused times in men’s professional golf, Garrick Higgo will nonetheless be pleased with his seven-place climb on the list this week.

While it hasn’t been a particularly impressive scene for the man who won on his first outing on the PGA Tour, his share of 33^rd in last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic brought him a cheque for nearly R860,000 as well as a boost to 176^th on the list which is still the only official way of ranking players.

He was up to 176^th, down on the 144^th earlier on in the year after his share of 11^th in the American Express, and way down on his career-high of 38^th a week after he won the Palmetto Championship in June 2021. He has had six missed cuts since the beginning of the year, and only one other top-20 performance after that share of 11^th in January.

South Africa’s highest finisher last week in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, MJ Daffue was up five places on the list in 168^th.

The biggest climbs for South Africans came from players outside the top 20 according to the official list: Darren Fichardt’s win on the Challenge Tour saw him leap 190 places to 545^th, and Jbe’ Kruger’s triumph on the Japan Golf Tour had him up 130 places to 350^th.

South Africa’s top golfer was Thriston Lawrence, unchanged in 75^th place.

South Africa’s top 20:

1. Thriston Lawrence 75 (unchanged)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 86 (down 1)
3. Dean Burmester 98 (down 1)
4. Oliver Bekker 150 (down 7)
5. Ockie Strydom 158 (down 4)
6. MJ Daffue 168 (up 5)
7. Garrick Higgo 176 (up 7)
8. Erik van Rooyen 184 (down 6)
9. Zander Lombard 207 (down 7)
10. Hennie du Plessis 216 (up 1)
11. Deon Germishuys 243 (down 2)
12. Dylan Frittelli 257 (down 3)
13. Shaun Norris 272 (down 6)
14. Louis de Jager 278 (down 4)
15. George Coetzee 292 (down 6)
16. Charl Schwartzel 297 (down 7)
17. Jaco Ahlers 305 (down 9)
18. Casey Jarvis 306 (down 3)
19. Daniel van Tonder 308 (down 9)
20. JC Ritchie 315 (down 8)