Jacques Kruyswijk benefited from being one of the hardest-working South African golfers when he climbed 28 places to 165th on the latest list issued this week by the Official World Golf Ranking.

Kruyswijk, who finished in a share of fourth in the PGA Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned Barracuda Championship last weekend, raked in his fifth best-ever haul of world ranking points with 6.96232. It was further reward for a good year in which he has pulled off his first DP World Tour victory – the Magical Kenya Open – and came close to winning his second just weeks later when he lost in a play-off in the Joburg Open.

Those two performances and his showing in the Barracuda Championship have lifted him to a career-high on the official lists, and make him South Africa’s seventh-best player according to that ranking. That justified his decision to make the trek to the United States to play in the tournament which was staged opposite the Open Championship, when could easily have hunkered down at home, annoyed at missing out on a chance to play in the final men’s major championship of the year.

He was one of seven of the top 25 South Africans on the official rankings who climbed this week: The most impressive jump came from JC Ritchie, who climbed 119 places to 308th with his triumph in the HotelPlanner Tour’s German Challenge. Ritchie was outside the world’s top 600 when he missed the cut in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December last year, but a concerted campaign to gain a foothold in Europe again has been impressive. It was rewarded with his first victory outside Africa out of 11 on the Sunshine Tour and the HotelPlanner Tour.

Erik van Rooyen finished in second in the Barracuda Championship, and he leapfrogged Thirston Lawrence into third amongst South African players on the official rankings. He climbed 12 places to 75th, while Lawrence was down three spots to 83rd after his performance in the Open Championship.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout was the best-performing South African at Royal Portrush, and he climbs three places to 66.

Aldrich Potgieter remains South Africa’s Highest-ranked player in 59th spot, down six after missing the cut at the Open.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Aldrich Potgieter 59 (down 6)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 65 (up 3)
3. Erik van Rooyen 75 (up 12)
4. Thriston Lawrence 83 (down 3)
5. Shaun Norris 106 (down 3)
6. Garrick Higgo 147 (down 2)
7. Jacques Kruyswijk 165 (up 28)
8. Jayden Schaper 178 (down 5)
9. Daniel van Tonder 185 (down 4)
10. Dean Burmester 218 (up 3)
11. Christo Lamprecht 260 (down 1)
12. Brandon Stone 261 (down 6)
13. Robin Williams 266 (up 15)
14. Dylan Naidoo 290 (down 7)
15. JC Ritchie 308 (up 119)
16. Barend Botha 348 (unchanged)
17. Dylan Frittelli 350 (up 6)
18. Wilco Nienaber 380 (down 6)
19. Casey Jarvis 385 (down 4)
20. Charl Schwartzel 399 (down 6)
21. Jonathan Broomhead 401 (down 1)
22. Deon Germishuys 411 (down 12)
23. Louis Oosthuizen 418 (down 22)
24. Ryan van Velzen 434 (down 22)
25. Zander Lombard 445 (down 24)