Just six weeks ago, Casey Jarvis was on the verge of entering South Africa’s top 20 according to the Official World Golf Ranking. This week, he’s knocking on the door of the top 10 after his maiden professional victory on the weekend on the Challenge Tour.

The 19-year-old Jarvis won the Euram Bank Open in Austria, and the triumph gave him a 54-place boost up the world rankings to 237^th. He was South Africa’s 11^th-best player, up from 16^th last week, and just 12 places on the list behind Hennie du Plessis who is in 10^th. Jarvis has leapfrogged Shaun Norris, George Coetzee, Louis de Jager, Dylan Frittelli and Deon Germishuys to reach his current position.

Also on a good upward trend was Garrick Higgo, who was up 17 places to 153^rd. He’s now the fourth-best South African player on the list, overtaking Oliver Bekker, Ockie Strydom and MJ Daffue on his way up. His climb took place on the back of his top-20 finish in the Genesis Scottish Open, but he won’t be in a position to consolidate that climb as he is not in the Open Championship this week.

South Africa’s top-ranked player, Thriston Lawrence, is. He was down two places to 80^th in a week when South Africa was down to just two players inside the world’s top 100 – the lowest number in a long time. Dean Burmester, who has jumped ship to LIV Golf, was the man who slipped out of the top 100 to 103^rd, joining fellow-LIV players Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen on the slide down the official list.

De Jager got a good boost from his share of 16^th in the Barbasol Championship, climbing nine places to 280^th.

But it’s all eyes on the world’s top 200 for young Jarvis, who started the year ranked 745^th – and he doesn’t look as if he will be back down there any time soon.

South Africa’s top 20:

1. Thriston Lawrence 80 (down 2)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 93 (down 6)
3. Dean Burmester 102 (down 3)
4. Garrick Higgo 153 (up 17)
5. Oliver Bekker 160 (down 6)
6. Ockie Strydom 161 (down 4)
7. MJ Daffue 166 (down 1)
8. Erik van Rooyen 215 (down 9)
9. Zander Lombard 218 (down 8)
10. Hennie du Plessis 225 (down 8)
11. Casey Jarvis 237 (up 54)
12. Deon Germishuys 255 (down 12)
13. Dylan Frittelli 267 (down 6)
14. Louis de Jager 280 (up 9)
15. George Coetzee 290 (down 3)
16. Shaun Norris 293 (down 12)
17. Daniel van Tonder 305 (down 7)
18. JC Ritchie 314 (up 3)
19. Jaco Ahlers 317 (down 9)
20. Charl Schwartzel 322 (down 13)