Although Branden Grace lost in the play-off in the Wyndham Championship, he managed to move closer to the world’s top 50 in this week’s Official World Golf Rankings.

Grace moved up nine spots 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.

Saffas inside the World’s top 100

7 – Louis Oosthuizen
44 – Garrick Higgo – 44
48 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout
56 – Branden Grace
76 – Charl Schwartzel
79 – Erik van Rooyen
82 – Dylan Frittelli
92 – Justin Harding
96 – Danie van Tonder

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