Sunshine Tour

The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East 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:
2021–22 Sunshine Tour
FormerlySunshine Circuit,
South African Tour,
Southern Africa Tour
SportGolf
Founded1971 (rebranded as the Sunshine Tour in 2000)
Countries Botswana
 Eswatini
 Kenya
 Mauritius
 Namibia
 South Africa
 Tanzania
 Zambia
 Zimbabwe
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: 2021–22 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.

SeasonPlayerEarnings (R)
2021–22 Shaun Norris4,890,994
2020–21 Christiaan Bezuidenhout7,789,088
2019–20 J. C. Ritchie2,162,387
2018–19 Zander Lombard2,119,984
2017–18 George Coetzee (2)2,937,226
2016–17 Brandon Stone7,384,889
2015 George Coetzee5,470,684
2014 Thomas Aiken4,057,642
2013 Dawie van der Walt5,094,333
2012 Branden Grace2,760,319
2011 Garth Mulroy3,464,463
2010 Charl Schwartzel (4)5,097,914
2009 Anders Hansen4,286,038
2008 Richard Sterne5,599,265
2007 James Kingston1,980,689
2006–07 Charl Schwartzel (3)1,585,117
2005–06 Charl Schwartzel (2)1,207,460
2004–05 Charl Schwartzel1,635,850
2003–04 Darren Fichardt (2)726,545
2002–03 Trevor Immelman2,044,280
2001–02 Tim Clark1,669,901
2000–01 Mark McNulty (9)1,603,481
1999–2000 Darren Fichardt558,735
1998–99 David Frost1,189,762
1997–98 Mark McNulty (8)589,053
1996–97 Mark McNulty (7)556,227
1995–96 Wayne Westner709,389
1994–95 Ernie Els (2)460,488
1993–94 Tony Johnstone (2)297,359
1992–93 Mark McNulty (6)250,079
1991–92 Ernie Els324,017
1990–91 John Bland (4)333,625
1989–90 John Bland (3)180,892
1988–89 Tony Johnstone254,950
1987–88 John Bland (2)143,690
1986–87 Mark McNulty (5)134,690
1985–86 Mark McNulty (4)113,526
1984–85 Mark McNulty (3)57,750
1983–84 Gavan Levenson43,940
1982–83 Nick Price31,986
1981–82 Mark McNulty (2)67,054
1980–81 Mark McNulty50,192
1979–80 Gary Player (2)49,680
1978–79 Hugh Baiocchi19,804
1977–78 John Bland25,170
1976–77 Gary Player19,236
1975–76 Allan Henning (2)18,275
1974–75 Allan HenningPoints
based
system
1973–74 John Fourie
1972–73 Dale Hayes
1971–72 Tienie Britz

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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