South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen rocketed up to his highest-ever Official World Golf Ranking after a top-five finish at the WGC-Mexico Championship on Sunday, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.
The 30-year-old occupies the 40th spot in the world, rising 12 positions from last week. Monday’s updates come with another boost after a significant jump in the Race to Dubai standings moving from 37th to sixth. Van Rooyen is now the highest-ranked South African on the list as he bids to back up his solid showing on the European Tour in 2019.
His T3 finish in Mexico had him bank the hefty sum of €555,144.34 or put into rand terms … R9,092,603.21.
Zander Lombard also made a good climb in the Race to Dubai standings as he went from 41st to 34th following his T26 finish at the WGC. Lombard pocketed €83,271.65 (R1,363,445) to add to the good year he’s had to date on the European Tour.
Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen endured quiet weeks finishing in 42nd and 51st positions, respectively.
Grace walked away with R750,101 and remains 71st in the OWGR. He is also still inside the top 10 in the Order of Merit on the Euro circuit this season while Oosthuizen, who earned R644,024, dropped one spot to sit as the 18th-best player in the world.
Japan Tour star Shaun Norris went from 61st to 59th in the update rankings following his T37 finish, which handed him €51,998 (R851,763). He also made a one-position jump to 24th in the Race to Dubai standings.
Last weekend’s winner at Fancourt, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, kept his spot inside the world’s top 50 – at 48th – after ending in T29 on Sunday. He remains eighth in the Race to Dubai although his attention has turned to keeping himself inside the top 50 in the world with a place at the Masters now firmly in his sights.
Already Masters bound is Justing Harding, who concluded the event alongside Bezuidenhout in T29 but dropped six places to 97th in the OWGR.
Like Bezuidenhout, he took home €68,005.18 or R1,113,994 from the weekend.
