Sunshine Tour

The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the South African Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the Vodacom Tour and the FNB Tour. For the 2000–01 season the tour rebranded itself as the Sunshine Tour in an attempt to broaden its appeal. A large majority of the tour events are still staged in South Africa.

Sunshine Tour
Current season, competition or edition:
2020–21 Sunshine Tour
FormerlySunshine Circuit,
South African Tour,
Southern Africa Tour
SportGolf
Founded1971 (rebranded as the Sunshine Tour in 2000)
Countries Mauritius
 Namibia
 South Africa
 Eswatini
 Zambia
 Zimbabwe
 Kenya
Most titlesOrder of Merit titles:
9 – Mark McNulty
TV partner(s)SuperSport
Official websiteSunshineTour.com

The tour is one of the six leading men's tours which before 2009 made up the membership of the International Federation of PGA Tours, but it offers much less prize money than some of the leading tours, and leading Southern African golfers traditionally prefer to play on the PGA Tour or the European Tour if they can qualify to do so, typically returning to play in Sunshine Tour events a couple of times a year.

Most of the tour's leading official money events, including the South African Open, are co-sanctioned with the European Tour to attract stronger fields. The 2015 season included 27 official money events. The co-sanctioned events had purses ranging from €1 million to $6.5 million, while the other 21 events had purses designated in South African Rand and ranging from 650,000 rand to 4.5 million rand. There was at least one tournament every month of the year except July, but the main events took place in the South African summer from November to February.

The tour has been open to non-White players since 1991. Five black golfers have won events: South Africa's John Mashego at the 1991 Bushveld Classic; South Africa's Lindani Ndwandwe at the 2001 Western Cape Classic and 2009 Highveld Classic; Zimbabwe's Tongoona Charamba at the 2006 SAA Pro-Am Invitational[1] and 2008 MTC Namibia PGA Championship; Zambia's Madalitso Muthiya at the 2016 Vodacom Origins of Golf (Wild Coast); and South Africa's Toto Thimba Jr. at the 2019 KCB Karen Masters.

In 2016, the Sunshine Tour announced an affiliation with the MENA Golf Tour, allowing the top five MENA Tour players Sunshine Tour cards and those 6th-15th into the final stage of Q School. A number of events would also be co-sanctioned among the Sunshine Tour, MENA Tour, and developmental Big Easy Tour.

Schedule
Main article: 2020–21 Sunshine Tour

The Sunshine Tour consists of two distinct parts, commonly referred to as the "Summer Swing" and "Winter Swing". Tournaments held during the Summer Swing generally have much higher prize funds and attract stronger fields. The Winter Swing runs from March to November, dividing the Summer Swing in two.

Tournament prize funds do not count directly towards the Order of Merit. The richest events on the tour are those that are co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

Order of Merit winners

The winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit is awarded the Sid Brews Trophy. The Order of Merit winners are shown below. Players are required to play in a minimum number of tournaments (eight in 2013) to qualify for the Order of Merit. As the richest events on the tour (those co-sanctioned by the European Tour) tend to be won by players who don't play enough events to qualify, in recent years the Order of Merit winner has often not actually been the player who won most money in Sunshine Tour sanctioned events. The winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit also earns entry into The Open Championship.

SeasonPlayerCountryEarnings (R)
2019–20J. C. Ritchie South Africa2,162,387
2018–19Zander Lombard South Africa2,119,984
2017–18George Coetzee South Africa2,937,226
2016–17Brandon Stone South Africa7,384,889
2015George Coetzee South Africa5,470,684
2014Thomas Aiken South Africa4,057,642
2013Dawie van der Walt South Africa5,094,333
2012Branden Grace South Africa2,760,319
2011Garth Mulroy South Africa3,464,463
2010Charl Schwartzel South Africa5,097,914
2009Anders Hansen Denmark4,286,038
2008Richard Sterne South Africa5,599,265
2007James Kingston South Africa1,980,689
2006–07Charl Schwartzel South Africa1,585,117
2005–06Charl Schwartzel South Africa1,207,460
2004–05Charl Schwartzel South Africa1,635,850
2003–04Darren Fichardt South Africa726,545
2002–03Trevor Immelman South Africa2,044,280
2001–02Tim Clark South Africa1,669,901
2000–01Mark McNulty Zimbabwe1,603,481
1999/00Darren Fichardt South Africa558,735
1998/99David Frost South Africa1,189,762
1997/98Mark McNulty Zimbabwe589,053
1996/97Mark McNulty Zimbabwe556,227
1995/96Wayne Westner South Africa709,389
1994/95Ernie Els South Africa460,488
1993/94Tony Johnstone Zimbabwe297,359
1992/93Mark McNulty Zimbabwe250,079
1991/92Ernie Els South Africa324,017
1990/91John Bland South Africa333,625
1989/90John Bland South Africa180,892
1988/89Tony Johnstone Zimbabwe254,950
1987/88John Bland South Africa143,690
1986/87Mark McNulty Zimbabwe134,690
1985/86Mark McNulty Zimbabwe113,526
1984/85Mark McNulty Zimbabwe57,750
1983/84Gavan Levenson South Africa43,940
1982/83Nick Price Zimbabwe31,986
1981/82Mark McNulty Zimbabwe67,054
1980/81Mark McNulty Zimbabwe50,192
1979/80Gary Player South Africa49,680
1978/79Hugh Baiocchi South Africa19,804
1977/78John Bland South Africa25,170
1976/77Gary Player South Africa19,236
1975/76Allan Henning South Africa18,275
1974/75Allan Henning South AfricaPoints
based
system
1973/74John Fourie South Africa
1972/73Dale Hayes South Africa
1971/72Tienie Britz South Africa
Source (1971/72 to 1992/93):[2]

See also

References
  1. "Charamba rewrites history at SAA Pro-Am Invitational". Sunshine Tour. 22 May 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
  2. Berkovitz, Anton; Samson, Andrew (1993). South Africa and international sports factfinder. D. Nelson. p. 96. ISBN 1868061019.
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