Lawrence gets big rankings boost from SA Open triumph

Dec 5, 2022 | Featured, Rankings

Thriston Lawrence was the obvious beneficiary on the Official World Golf Ranking of a great performance at last week’s Investec South African Open Championship as he jumped 26 places to 64^th in the world.

There were others inside the top 20 South Africans on the rankings who benefitted from a good week at Blair Atholl: Charl Schwartzel climbed six places to 156^th with his share of ninth, MJ Daffue was up eight to 163^rd with his share of 15^th, Hennie du Plessis was seven spots higher at 170^th after his share of ninth, Dylan Frittelli climbed five spots to 18^th with his share of 50^th, and Deon Germishuys was up six places to 292^nd with his share of 23^rd.

Notable about the rankings this week is South Africa’s top-ranked golfer, Louis Oosthuizen, is outside the top 50 this week. With no settlement in sight with the world rankings people and LIV Golf, that puts his appearance at the Masters in jeopardy. That’s while Burmester moves closer to the top 50 in the world and a coveted invitation to Augusta National next April. Lawrence is also just a few more good performances away from getting one of those too.

There are just four South Africans in the world’s top 50 now, a function of changes to the ranking system which favours the PGA Tour even more than it ever did, as well as of a couple of slow months by some players who have been inside the top 100, or are actually good enough to be there.

South Africa’s top 20