Cape Town - Charl Schwartzel has dropped to his lowest world ranking in nine years following the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City this past weekend.
Schwartzel, who was ranked 74th leading into the event at Sun City, dropped to 80th after his T41 finish at 'Africa's Major'.
The 34-year-old is currently the fifth highest ranked South African golfer - behind Louis Oosthuizen (37), Branden Grace (46), Shaun Norris (72) and Dylan Frittelli (79).
The 2011 Masters champion is now at his lowest ranking since 2009 before he finished T5 in the Singapore Open in that year.
Schwartzel's 2018 season has seen him only make four top 10 finishes in 23 events including a T2 at the Players Championship.
He missed three out of the four Majors cuts, with a best finish of T42 at the PGA Championship in St. Louis in August.
Schwartzel has not qualified for the final European Tour event, the DP World Tour Championship, after finishing 96th in the Race to Dubai rankings.
He will team up with Grace to represent South Africa at the World Cup of Golf at the Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne from November 22-25, 2018.