Casey Jarvis probably felt as if the world finally returned to its axis last week as he finished in a share of 20th in the DP World Tour’s Amgen Irish Open to give himself a 27-place boost up the latest Official World Golf Ranking list.

Jarvis was up to 370th on the official list, and it represents his biggest upward move since his share of 11th in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December last year when he climbed 22 places to 307th.

While it hasn’t been all downhill since then, he is a long way off his career-high of 237th which he reached when he won on the HotelPlanner Tour in the Euram Open way back in July 2023. He made five cuts on the DP World Tour after Leopard Creek, but he made only six more ahead of his performance in Ireland, and he missed 12, including two on the PGA Tour in which he was able to play.

While his performance at the K Club was still beset by some frustrations – he carded a level-par 72 in the second round and a one-over 73 in the fourth round – his 69 in the first and 68 in the third gave him some belief that he can regain that swagger which makes him such an exciting prospect.

He wasn’t the biggest climber on the official ranking amongst South African players: Veteran Thomas Aiken was up 32 places, and inside the world’s top 500 at 499th. That puts him 25th on the list of South Africa’s top players according to the official lists. Jarvis was up to 19th on that list.

South Africa’s top-ranked player remains Aldrich Potgieter, up two places this week to 64th, with Thriston Lawrence next-best at 67, up one from last week.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Aldrich Potgieter 64 (up 2)
2. Thriston Lawrence 67 (up 1)
3. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 74 (up 1)
4. Erik van Rooyen 90 (unchanged)
5. Shaun Norris 105 (up 10)
6. Christo Lamprecht 144 (down 1)
7. Garrick Higgo 150 (down 3)
8. Jacques Kruyswijk 173 (down 1)
9. Jayden Schaper 201 (down 6)
10. Daniel van Tonder 204 (down 3)
11. Dean Burmester 261 (down 8)
12. Brandon Stone 268 (down 5)
13. Barend Botha 278 (down 1)
14. Robin Williams 290 (down 1)
15. Dylan Naidoo 316 (down 1)
16. Jonathan Broomhead 323 (down 12)
17. JC Ritchie 329 (unchanged)
18. Michael Hollick 363 (up 26)
19. Casey Jarvis 370 (up 27)
20. Dylan Frittelli 408 (down 12)
21. Wilco Nienaber 436 (down 6)
22. Charl Schwartzel 468 (down 11)
23. Ryan van Velzen 482 (down 11)
24. Deon Germishuys 497 (down 5)
25. Thomas Aiken 499 (up 32)