2008 Sunshine Tour
The 2008 Sunshine Tour was the ninth season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was relaunched in 2000, and the second 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. There were two new tournaments, The Africa Open, which the tour hopes will become "Africa's Major" in the future, and the BMG Classic, founded by the Bearing Man Group, who wished to continue their involvement with the tour following the end of their long run as title sponsors of the Highveld Classic.
The order of merit was dominated by Richard Sterne, who won all three European Tour co-sanctioned tournaments, by far the richest on the tour.
Schedule
The table below shows schedule of events for the 2008 Sunshine Tour.[1] 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 March to November, starting with the Mount Edgecombe Trophy, and closing with the Coca-Cola Charity Championship, hosted by Gary Player.
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10–13 Jan | Joburg Open | Royal Johannesburg and Kensington GC | €1,000,000 | ![]() |
20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
24–27 Jan | Dimension Data Pro-Am | Gary Player CC and Lost City GC, Sun City | €1,100,000 | ![]() |
14 | |
31 Jan – 3 Feb | Nashua Masters | Wild Coast Sun CC | R1,200,000 | ![]() |
14 | |
7–10 Feb | The Africa Open | Fish River Sun CC | R1,200,000 | ![]() |
14 | New event |
14–17 Feb | Vodacom Championship | Pretoria CC | R2,400,000 | ![]() |
14 | |
21–24 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | The Country Club, Johannesburg | R2,500,000 | ![]() |
14 | |
28 Feb – 2 Mar | Mount Edgecombe Trophy | Mount Edgecombe GC | R500,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
28–30 Mar | Zambia Open | Lusaka, Zambia | R750,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
3–5 Apr | Vodacom Origins of Golf Free State | Bloemfontein GC | R440,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
23–25 Apr | Vodacom Origins of Golf Gauteng | Pretoria CC | R440,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
7–10 May | Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open | Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland | R700,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
15–17 May | Nashua Golf Challenge | Gary Player CC and Lost City GC, Sun City | R500,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
28–30 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf KwaZulu Natal | Selborne Hotel Spa and Golf Estate | R440,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
6–8 Jun | Lombard Insurance Classic | Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland | R400,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
21–23 Aug | SAA Pro-Am Invitational | Paarl GC | R500,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
27–29 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf Western Cape | Arabella GC | R440,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
3–5 Sep | Telkom PGA Pro-Am | Centurion CC | R400,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
11–13 Sep | Suncoast Classic | Durban CC | R500,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
17–19 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf Eastern Cape | Humewood GC, Port Elizabeth | R440,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
2–4 Oct | Seekers Travel Pro-Am | Dainfern CC | R440,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
10–12 Oct | BMG Classic | Ebotse GC, Johannesburg | R500,000 | ![]() |
n/a | New event |
17–19 Oct | Metmar Highveld Classic | Witbank GC | R600,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
22–24 Oct | Vodacom Origins of Golf Final | St Francis Links | R440,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
30 Oct – 1 Nov | Platinum Classic | Mooinooi GC | R705,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
6–9 Nov | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Windhoek Country Club, Namibia | R1,000,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
25–27 Nov | Coca-Cola Charity Championship | The Outeniqua, Fancourt | R550,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
1–3 Dec | Nedbank Affinity Cup | Lost City GC, Sun City | R550,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |
4–7 Dec | Nedbank Golf Challenge | Gary Player CC, Sun City | $4,385,000 | ![]() |
34 | |
11–14 Dec | Alfred Dunhill Championship | Leopard Creek CC, Malelane | €1,000,000 | ![]() |
24 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
18–21 Dec | South African Open Championship | Pearl Valley Golf Estates | €1,000,000 | ![]() |
40 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
Order of Merit
Rank | Player[2] | Country | Events | Prize Money (R) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Richard Sterne | ![]() | 5 | 5,999,264.60 |
2 | Garth Mulroy | ![]() | 6 | 1,442,350.70 |
3 | Thomas Aiken | ![]() | 8 | 967,378.26 |
4 | Mark Murless | ![]() | 28 | 885,055.74 |
5 | James Kingston | ![]() | 7 | 775,903.20 |
England's Robert Rock was the third highest money winner (with R1,280,632.80) but did not qualify for the Order of Merit, having only played in two events.
References
- ↑ "2008 Sunshine Tour schedule". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
- ↑ "2008 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2009-01-06.