Dustin Johnson retained his number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings after Bubba Watson defeated Justin Thomas in the Dell Match Play semi-finals.
Johnson has been at the top of the standings for 57 weeks but Thomas, last year’s FedExCup champion, was on the verge of usurping him before stumbling against Watson (up 18 places to 21st).
Thomas emerged from his group with three wins before thrashing Si Woo Kim 6&5 in the round of 16. Kyle Stanley was downed 2&1 to set up the last four clash against the Genesis Open champion, Watson.
Had Thomas won that tie, he would’ve gone top with only one event before the year’s first Major.
Louis Oosthuizen was the only South African to emerge from the pool stage but still dropped down the rankings with Watson and runner-up Kevin Kisner (up 11 places to 25th) both moving past him and top-ranked Saffa Branden Grace.
Grace dropped down four to 31 with Oosthuizen down three to 32. Like Grace, Charl Schwartzel did not escape from his group and dropped five places to 58th as a result.
Top 10 South African rankings:
Branden Grace – 31
Louis Oosthuizen – 32
Dylan Fritelli – 47
Charl Schwartzel – 58
George Coetzee – 98
Shaun Norris – 111
Dean Burmester – 127
Darren Fichardt – 138
Richard Sterne – 155
Erik van Rooyen – 158
Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
