Grace heading towards world’s top 50

Branden Grace might have lost in the play-off in the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship on the weekend, but he moved closer to the world’s top 50 in this week’s Official World Golf Ranking.

He was up nine places to 56th to be the only South African inside the top 100 of the list to actually improve his position, as Louis Oosthuizen remained the top-ranked South African at seventh. Oosthuizen was unchanged despite withdrawing from the Wyndham Championship to take a break ahead of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup three-tournament finale which gets underway this week.

Grace’s form has been on the rise and it’s showing in the rankings: He started the year in 126th spot, and he won in Puerto Rico to kickstart a climb back up the rankings towards the kind of position he is capable of occupying consistently, and which will give him access to the major championships where he has missed out this year.

His climb assured him of a spot in the play-offs, while Oosthuizen, Garrick Higgo, Erik van Rooyen and Dylan Frittelli will be the other South Africans in the first event, the Northern Trust, and the field will be cut to 70 for the BMW Championship the following week.

Dean Burmester slipped out of the world’s top 100 after not playing in the European Tour’s Cazoo Classic last week, but he remains South Africa’s 10-best golfer. He will get a chance to get back inside the top 100 this week in the D+D Real Czech Masters.

SOUTH AFRICA’S TOP 10:

1. Louis Oosthuizen - 7 (unchanged)
2. Garrick Higgo - 44 (down 2)
3. Christiaan Bezuidenhout - 48 (down 3)
4. Branden Grace - 56 (up 9)
5. Charl Schwartzel - 76 (unchanged)
6. Erik van Rooyen - 79 (unchanged)
7. Dylan Frittelli - 82 (unchanged)
8. Justin Harding - 92 (down 3)
9. Daniel van Tonder - 96 (down 2)
10. Dean Burmester - 103 (down 4)