2009 Sunshine Tour

The 2009 Sunshine Tour was the tenth season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was relaunched in 2000, and the third since the tour switched a calendar based season in 2007. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region.

The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 26 of the 30 tournaments being held in the country. Two events were held in Swaziland, with one each in Zambia and Namibia.

The Order of Merit was won by Anders Hansen of Denmark.[1]

Schedule

The table below shows schedule of events for the 2009 Sunshine Tour.[2] As usual, the tour consisted of two distinct parts, commonly referred to as the "Summer Swing" and "Winter Swing". Tournaments held during the Summer Swing generally had much higher prize funds, attracted stronger fields, and were the only tournaments on the tour to carry world ranking points, with three events being co-sanctioned with the European Tour. Since the tour switched to a calendar based season, this part of the tour has been split in two, with six events being held at the start of the year, and the remainder in December.

The Winter Swing ran from April to early December, starting with the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour, and closing with the Nedbank Affinity Cup.

Prize funds shown did not count directly towards the Order of Merit. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of official money Sunshine Tour events he had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Sunshine Tour members.

Dates Tournament Venue
(RSA unless stated)		 Prize fund Winner OWGR
points		 Notes
8–11 Jan Joburg Open Royal Johannesburg and Kensington GC €1,100,000 Anders Hansen (1) 20 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
15–18 Jan Africa Open East London GC R5,000,000 Retief Goosen (9) 18
22–25 Jan Dimension Data Pro-Am Gary Player CC and Lost City GC, Sun City R1,800,000 Deane Pappas (2) 14
29 Jan – 1 Feb Nashua Masters Wild Coast Sun CC R1,200,000 Darren Fichardt (7) 14
12–15 Feb Vodacom Championship Pretoria CC R2,650,000 Anders Hansen (2) 14
19–22 Feb Telkom PGA Championship The Country Club, Johannesburg R2,750,000 Jaco van Zyl (3) 14
1–3 Apr Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Bloemfontein GC R480,000 Trevor Fisher Jnr (4) n/a
30 Apr – 2 May SAA Pro-Am Invitational Mount Edgecombe GC R500,000 Adilson da Silva (5) n/a
6–9 May Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland R750,000 Jaco van Zyl (4) n/a
14–16 May Nashua Golf Challenge Gary Player CC and Lost City GC, Sun City R500,000 Doug McGuigan (4) n/a
20–22 May Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Pretoria CC R480,000 Brandon Pieters (1) n/a
5–7 Jun Lombard Insurance Classic Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland R500,000 Peter Karmis (2) n/a
24–25 Jun Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Fancourt R480,000 Brandon Pieters (2) n/a
6–8 Aug Suncoast Classic Durban CC R500,000 Louis de Jager (1) n/a
12–14 Aug Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Erinvale Golf Estate R480,000 Jaco Ahlers (1) n/a
19–21 Aug Telkom PGA Pro-Am Centurion CC R450,000 Jaco van Zyl (5) n/a
28–30 Aug Zambia Open Lusaka, Zambia R800,000 Jbe' Kruger (1) n/a Tournament postponed from
its original date in March.[3][4]
3–5 Sep SAA Pro-Am Invitational Randpark GC R500,000 Ryan Tipping (1) n/a
16–18 Sep Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Selborne Hotel Spa and Golf Estate R480,000 Darren Fichardt (8) n/a
1–3 Oct SAA Pro-Am Invitational Paarl GC R500,000 Prinavin Nelson (1) n/a
7–9 Oct Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Final Simola Golf Estate R480,000 Brandon Pieters (3) n/a
16–18 Oct BMG Classic Ebotse GC, Johannesburg R500,000 Graham DeLaet (1) n/a
23–25 Oct Highveld Classic Witbank GC R600,000 Lindani Ndwandwe (2) n/a
29–31 Oct Platinum Classic Mooinooi GC R705,000 Darren Fichardt (9) n/a
12–15 Nov MTC Namibia PGA Championship Windhoek Country Club, Namibia R1,000,000 Hennie Otto (8) 14
24–26 Nov Coca-Cola Charity Championship The Outeniqua, Fancourt R550,000 Christiaan Basson (1) n/a
30 Nov – 2 Dec Nedbank Affinity Cup Lost City GC, Sun City R550,000 Jake Roos (2) n/a
3–6 Dec Nedbank Golf Challenge Gary Player CC, Sun City $4,385,000 Robert Allenby (n/a) 30
10–13 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship Leopard Creek CC €1,000,000 Pablo Martín (n/a) 20 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
17–20 Dec South African Open Championship Pearl Valley Golf Estates €1,000,000 Richie Ramsay (n/a) 32 Flagship event
Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Order of Merit
RankPlayer[5]CountryEventsPrize Money (R)
1Anders Hansen Denmark54,286,038.20
2Charl Schwartzel South Africa52,315,187.86
3Darren Fichardt South Africa241,475,025.83
4Jaco van Zyl South Africa251,333,023.17
5David Drysdale Scotland61,184,733.10

References
  1. Dempster, Martin (21 December 2009). "Richie Ramsay holds nerve to fend off Shiv Kapur and win maiden European Tour title". The Scotsman. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  2. "2009 Sunshine Tour schedule". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  3. "Zambia Open Golf Championship Postponed". Lusaka Times. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  4. "Zambia Open back on Sunshine Tour calendar". Sunshine Tour. 23 July 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
  5. "2009 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 20 December 2009. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
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