There was little joy for the leading South Africans, Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, following the release of the latest world golf rankings.
Highlights: Final day of the WGC Match Play
All three were bundled out in the group stage of the WGC event in Austin, Texas this weekend. W,orld number one Dustin Johnson saw off Jon Rahm in a thrilling finish to what was a splendid week of match play golf. Johnson’s dominance at the top of the rankings was bolstered to such an extent that he will remain number one regardless who dons the green jacket on 9 April.
South Africa’s best-placed golfer, Branden Grace, remains inside the top 20, but dropped one spot from last’s 19th place after going 1-2-0 this week. Oosthuizen drops to 28 after missing the knockout round after falling short in a playoff against England’s Ross Fisher, who helped himself to a Masters invite as a result of his performance in the year’s second WGC event.
Schwartzel was 2-0-0 before being ousted by another Englishman, Paul Casey, and sits one place below Oosthuizen.
Ricard Sterne is the only player, of those South Africans in the top 100, to move up this week, with the big movers coming from Retief Goosen and Jacques Kruyswijk.
The Goose rolled back the years as he finished T2 in Puerto Rico, a result which lifted him to 198 in the world – a jump of 74 places. Kruyswijk moved up 17 spots to 221 after a top 10 finish on the Challenge Tour.
At the top of the rankings, Adam Scott moves up to seventh, despite skipping the Match Play event in Texas, while Alex Noren bumped Sergio Garcia out of the top 10.
Top 10 South African rankings:
Branden Grace – 20
Louis Oosthuizen – 28
Charl Schwartzel – 29
Brandon Stone – 75
Richard Sterne – 89
Dean Burmester – 95
Jaco Van Zyl – 100
Dylan Fritelli – 134
George Coetzee – 149
Thomas Aiken – 152
Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
