Robin Williams might still be ruing his decision to putt from off the green on the 17^th on Sunday, but is certainly very happy with his 276-place leap up the Official World Golf Ranking list issued this week.

Williams, who is miles ahead in the Sunshine Tour’s Fortress Rookie of the Year standings, eventually finished second in a play-off in the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned SDC Championship at St Francis Links. That took him to 370^th position on the official rankings, a career-high which takes him well inside the top 25 South African players on that list.

He started the ranked 834^th and, despite missed cuts in the Challenge Tour’s SDC Open and Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open, he climbed to 648^th after last weekend’s Nelson Mandela Bay Championship which finished the Challenge Tour South African swing for 2024.

While he appeared calm down the stretch in the SDC Championship which he seemed almost certain to win, clearly finishing off the job in a tournament as significant as that is something he will have to come to grips with. But he is without doubt a rising star and the rankings show that.

New at the top of the South African list this week is Erik van Rooyen, who had a second-place finish on the PGA Tour in the Cognizant Classic. He jumped a significant 24 places to 59, and, while that’s still some way off his career-best of 40^th, he is getting into superb form ahead of the first major of the year, the Masters at the beginning of April.

Garrick Higgo also had a good week on the PGA Tour and jumped 20 places to 170^th, while Jbe’ Kruger was up 38 places to 386^th after a solid showing at St Francis Links.

South Africa’s top 25:

1. Erik van Rooyen 59 (up 24)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 61 (down 2)
3. Thriston Lawrence 89 (unchanged)
4. Dean Burmester 99 (down 3)
5. Zander Lombard 100 (down 2)
6. Louis Oosthuizen 103 (up 4)
7. Garrick Higgo 170 (up 20)
8. Dylan Frittelli 205 (down 1)
9. Hennie du Plessis 208 (down 7)
10. Ockie Strydom 243 (down 3)
11. Louis de Jager 263 (up 4)
12. Ryan van Velzen 285 (up 4)
13. Casey Jarvis 290 (up 15)
14. Jayden Schaper 291 (up 1)
15. MJ Daffue 298 (down 13)
16. Jacques Kruyswijk 311 (down 5)
17. Aldrich Potgieter 335 (up 2)
18. Charl Schwartzel 344 (down 8)
19. Jaco Ahlers 345 (down 17)
20. Darren Fichardt 348 (down 5)
21. Deon Germishuys 354 (down 12)
22. Robin Williams 370 (up 276)
23. Wilco Nienaber 379 (up 12)
24. Jbe’ Kruger 386 (up 38)
25. Oliver Bekker 408 (up 3)