George Coetzee moved back inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since May 2016 after his win at the co-sanctioned Tshwane Open on Sunday.
READ: Coetzee wins Tshwane Open … again!
Coetzee survived an early wobble, two weather delays and a late charge by Sam Horsfield to become the first player to win the Tshwane Open twice.
The financial reward was great – he took over over R2.77-million for his efforts – and so too was the rankings boost as he climbed to 99th, his first return to the top 100 since he dropped out at the end of May 2016.
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The 31-year-old is the only player of the top five South Africans in green this week with Branden Grace, T30 at the WGC-Mexico, unmoved in 30th and the rest of that elite group all dropping.
Louis Oosthuizen (down two to 30th), Dylan Frittelli (down one to 45th) and Charl Schwartzel (down three to 50th) all failed to take advantage of rankings points on offer at the elite four-round no-cut event in Mexico.
Dean Burmester joined Grace and Oosthuizen in a share of 30th place after a fine final round 65 helped him climb the leaderboard. The 2017 Tshwane Open winner climbed 10 places to 127th as a result.
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At the top of the pile, Justin Thomas’ runner-up finish helped him move ahead of Jon Rahm in second place with Brooks Koepka (not in action this week) swapping 9th for 8th with Jason Day (also a non-starter) and Tommy Fleetwood bumping Rory McIlroy out of 10th place. The Northern Irishman also skipped Mexico and was passed by Sergio Garcia in the rankings.
Top 10 South African rankings:
28. Branden Grace
30. Louis Oosthuizen
45. Dylan Frittelli
50. Charl Schwartzel
99. George Coetzee
109. Shaun Norris
127. Dean Burmester
144. Richard Sterne
152. Erik van Rooyen
182. Haydn Porteous
Photo: Luke Walker/Sunshine Tour
