Oliver Bekker’s good run over the weekend in the DP World Tour’s Ras al Khaimah Championship at Al Hamra Golf Club in the UAE saw him climb to the verge of the world’s top 150 players in the latest Official World Golf Ranking list.
Bekker finished in a share of ninth on Sunday, and climbed five places on the rankings released on Monday to 152nd. It’s a career-high ranking for Bekker, who started the year at 159th after a successful European campaign on the Challenge Tour culminated in his winning his DP World Tour playing privileges.
The man with whom Bekker shared ninth place at the weekend, Shaun Norris, remained unchanged in 73rd place on the list. Justin Harding, who finished 24th in the Asian Tour’s PIF Saudi International, climbed one place in the rankings to 101st. On the PGA Tour, Christiaan Bezuidenhout was the best South African performer, his share of 14th in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am seeing him climb two places to number 53 in the world.
There were no points awarded from the Sunshine Tour event, the Kit Kat Group Pro-Am, which was cancelled after torrential rains rendered Irene Country Club unplayable before the first round was even completed.
Louis Oosthuizen remains South Africa’s top-ranked player in 12th place, with Bezuidenhout second, Erik van Rooyen third in 63rd, and Garrick Higgo fourth in 72nd after he slid five places on the list. The left-handed Higgo is going to have to find some way to arrest his downward trend on the rankings, as well as meeting the need to find form ahead of his debut in the Masters in April.
Harding and Dylan Frittelli (123rd) can both get inside the top 100 within the next week or two with continued good form, and bring South Africa’s tally of players inside the top 100 back to 10.
South Africa’s top 10
1. Louis Oosthuizen (12 - unchanged)
2. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (53 – up 2)
3. Erik van Rooyen (63 – down 3)
4. Garrick Higgo (72 – down 5)
5. Shaun Norris (73 – unchanged)
6. Dean Burmester (77 – down 6)
7. Daniel van Tonder (80 – down 3)
8. Branden Grace (84 – down 5)
9. Justin Harding (101 – up 1)
10. Dylan Frittelli (123 – up 3)