Jayden Schaper finished the highest-ranked South African on Sunday at the conclusion of the DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course at Jumeirah Estates in Dubai.

Schaper finished 26th on the final Race to Dubai rankings with his share of 20th in the championship. That lifted him one place on the rankings, and, with Thriston Lawrence dropping two places to 27th, Schaper became the most successful South African on the DP World Tour for the season.

He closed the championship with a two-under-par 70 to move to 10-under and a share of 20th. He was eight strokes out of the play-off between Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick after the Ryder Cup teammates had finished on 18-under-par.

McIlroy needed an eagle on the final hole of regulation play to make the play-off, and, when his tee shot found the water on the first extra hole, it was always likely that Fitzpatrick would pull off his first victory in two years and his third DP World Tour Championship. For McIlroy, there was the satisfaction of equalling Seve Ballesteros’ record of seven Race to Dubai titles, and moving within one of the all-time record held by Colin Montgomerie.

Lawrence, after being the leading South African through the first 54 holes, battled to a closing two-over 72 which left him in a share of 24th on eight-under-par.

Lawrence was one of 10 players who got membership on the PGA Tour last year, and he had an indifferent time of it in the United States. This year, the 10 are Marco Penge, Laurie Canter, Kristoffer Reitan, Adrien Saddier, Alex Noren, John Parry, Haotong Li, Keita Nakajima, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, and Jordan Smith.

Jacques Kruyswijk finished with a level-par 72 putting him in a share of 37th. That saw him climb one place on the Race to Dubai rankings to 31st. Shaun Norris dropped one place to 32nd after his closing on-under 71 put him in 50th place on three-over.