Daniel van Tonder’s victory in the European Tour’s Kenya Savannah Classic last week makes him the eighth South African inside the top 100 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking.

He vaulted from a career-high position of 140 before the tournament to 73^rd with his maiden European Tour title. Besides the opportunities the win opens up for him on the European Tour for the remainder of this year and the whole of 2022, getting inside the top 100 carries with it an enormous cachet which will work in his favour as he seeks other international playing opportunities.

Van Tonder was outside South Africa’s top 10 last week, and he vaulted ahead of Justin Harding, Shaun Norris, Garrick Higgo, Brandon Stone, George Coetzee and Branden Grace into fifth place in the South African rankings.

He’s just five places behind Dylan Frittelli, who climbed three places to 68^th this week after a solid performance which saw him get to the knockout stages of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship in Texas.

The number three South African is Erik van Rooyen, who, like Frittelli, made the knockout stages in Texas and climbed five spots to 63^rd.

Second is Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who, although he was knocked out in the pool stage of the WGC event, remains in 35^th, while Louis Oosthuizen remains South Africa’s top-ranked golfer despite dropping four places to 27^th after an early departure from Texas.

Harding remained in 121^st after his victory the previous week in Kenya, and, although he was unable to pull off back-to back wins, he came close with a share of 14^th after a frustrating closing round of two-over-par in Nairobi where Van Tonder won.

Jaco Prinsloo was the biggest climber of the week with his second Sunshine Tour title in three weeks with victory in the Serengeti Pro-Am Invitational. He jumped from 319^th to 207^th and is the 15^th-ranked South African.

Jacques Kruyswijk, who had a great finish behind Van Tonder, moved inside the world’s top 300, making him the 25^th South African in those ranks.

South Africa’s top 10:

1. Louis Oosthuizen 27 (down 4)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 35 (unchanged)
3. Erik van Rooyen 63 (up 5)
4. Dylan Frittelli 68 (up 3)
5. Daniel van Tonder 73 (up 67)
6. Branden Grace 80 (unchanged)
7. George Coetzee 82 (unchanged)
8. Brandon Stone 96 (down 1)
9. Garrick Higgo 114 (down 6)
10. Shaun Norris 118 (down 4)