His strong showing on the HotelPlanner Tour last week saw JC Ritchie climb back inside the top 25 South African players according to the latest list released this week by the Official World Golf Ranking.

Ritchie’s share of third in the Interwetten Open in Austria gave him a 54-place boost up the rankings to 419th, and he displaced Ian Snyman, who campaigns on the Asian Tour, as South Africa’s 25th-best player.

He’s a long way off his career-best of 111th achieved back in 2019 soon after he won the Zanaco Masters on the Sunshine Tour, but it is a return to an upward trend which he will find very welcome as he continues his quest to get back on to the DP World Tour.

The other big climber on the list of South Africans was Charl Schwartzel. The former world top-10 player, who has slithered down the rankings thanks to his departure to LIV Golf, finished in a share of 10th behind winner Scott Vincent in the Asian Tour’s International Series Morocco at the weekend. Schwartzel was up 22 places to 388th.

Brandon Stone had a 17-place jump to 249 on the rankings after a solid week on the DP World Tour in Germany in the BMW International Open.

Other than that, it was largely a downward trend for the top South Africans, except for Jacques Kruyswijk, who was up six to 189th, Zander Lombard who was up two to 13th, and Garrick Higgo and Dylan Naidoo, who were up one place each to 141st and 278th respectively.

South Africa’s top golfer remained Aldrich Potgieter, who lost one place to slip to 50th after he withdrew from the PHA Tour’s John Deere Classic a week after his maiden victory on that tour.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Aldrich Potgieter 50 (down 1)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 70 (down 3)
3. Thriston Lawrence 78 (down 1)
4. Erik van Rooyen 85 (down 1)
5. Shaun Norris 97 (down 3)
6. Garrick Higgo 141 (up 1)
7. Jayden Schaper 172 (down 4)
8. Daniel van Tonder 178 (down 2)
9. Jacques Kruyswijk 189 (up 6)
10. Dean Burmester 212 (down 6)
11. Brandon Stone 249 (up 17)
12. Christo Lamprecht 266 (down 6)
13. Robin Williams 273 (down 8)
14. Dylan Naidoo 278 (up 1)
15. Barend Botha 343 (down 7)
16. Dylan Frittelli 351 (down 12)
17. Wilco Nienaber 369 (down 6)
18. Casey Jarvis 377 (down 5)
19. Louis Oosthuizen 385 (down 5)
20. Charl Schwartzel 388 (up 22)
21. Deon Germishuys 395 (down 7)
22. Jonathan Broomhead 406 (down 10)
23. Ryan van Velzen 396 (down 8)
24. Zander Lombard 413 (up 2)
25. JC Ritchie 419 (up 53)