Daniel van Tonder might have lost a play-off at the weekend in the Sunshine Tour’s Players Championship, but he was a winner as he climbed 24 places on the Official World Golf Ranking list.

He moved into 134^th in the rankings from 158^th, and he’s also up on his beginning of the year position of 152^nd. It’s also a career-high for Van Tonder as he makes a push to get inside the world’s top 100.

He was beaten in the play-off by Jaco Prinsloo, who also saw off Jake Roos, but the seven world ranking points he picked up for his performance kept him the 10^th best South African on the list and took him closer to the number nine player, Shaun Norris. Norris ended the week in 111^th, one up on his previous week’s position.

Besides Stone, Van Tonder and Norris, Garrick Higgo was the another top-10 South African to improve his position. His share of 19^th on the European Tour’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters lifted him to 106^th, bringing him closer to the 90^th spot in which he started the year.

In the same tournament, Brandon Stone finished in a share of seventh to lift him back inside the world’s top 100 for the first time since 2018. He’s achieved a career-high of 69^th, and his climb to 98^th, up five places, means South Africa currently has seven players inside the top 100.

Louis Oosthuizen, down one in 23^rd, remains the highest-placed South African.

South Africa’s top 10:

1. Louis Oosthuizen 23 (down 1)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 35 (down 1)
3. Erik van Rooyen 66 (down 3)
4. Dylan Frittelli 69 (down 1)
5. Branden Grace 80 (down 5)
6. George Coetzee 87 (down 8)
7. Brandon Stone 98 (up 5)
8. Garrick Higgo 106 (up 1)
9. Shaun Norris 111 (up 1)
10. Daniel van Tonder 134 (up 24)