2007 Sunshine Tour
The 2007 Sunshine Tour was the eighth season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was rebranded in 2000, and the marked the beginning of a new era as the tour switched to a calendar based season, having previously been seasonal. 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 24 of the 28 tournaments being held in the country. Two events were held in Swaziland, with one each in Zambia and Namibia. There were five new tournaments, the Joburg Open, one of three events co-sanctioned by the PGA European Tour, the Nashua Golf Challenge, the Lombard Insurance Classic, the returning Mount Edgecombe Trophy, and the Nedbank Affinity Cup, introduced to the schedule as an appetizer to the high profile Nedbank Golf Challenge.
The Order of Merit was won for the first time by James Kingston, breaking Charl Schwartzel's three year stranglehold on the title.
Schedule
The table below shows schedule of events for the 2007 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.
The Winter Swing ran from March to November, starting with the Mount Edgecombe Trophy, and closing with the Coca-Cola Charity Championship. Since the tour switched to a calendar based season, this part of the tour effectively splits the Summer Swing into two, with five events being held at the start of the year, and the remainder in December. Due to these scheduling changes, the first five events of the 2007 season had already been part of the 2006–07 tour schedule, but continued to count towards the final standings of both.
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11–14 Jan | Joburg Open | Royal Johannesburg and Kensington GC | €1,000,000 | 20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour New event | |
25–28 Jan | Dimension Data Pro-Am | Gary Player CC and Lost City GC, Sun City | R1,600,000 | 14 | ||
1–4 Feb | Nashua Masters | Wild Coast Sun CC | R1,200,000 | 14 | ||
15–18 Feb | Vodacom Championship | Pretoria CC | R2,200,000 | 14 | ||
22–25 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | The Country Club, Johannesburg | R2,250,000 | 14 | ||
8–11 Mar | Mount Edgecombe Trophy | Mount Edgecombe GC | R500,000 | New event, last held in 1994 | ||
30 Mar – 1 Apr | Finance Bank Zambia Open | Ndola GC, Lusaka, Zambia | R750,000 | |||
13–15 Apr | Eskom Power Cup | Pecanwood Golf Estate | R400,000 | |||
18–20 Apr | Vodacom Origins of Golf Arabella | Arabella GC | R400,000 | |||
2–5 May | Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open | Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland | R600,000 | |||
9–11 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf Pretoria | Pretoria CC | R400,000 | |||
17–19 May | Suncoast Classic | Durban CC | R400,000 | |||
8–10 Jun | Lombard Insurance Classic | Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland | R350,000 | New event | ||
13–15 Jun | Vodacom Origins of Golf Selborne | Selborne Hotel Spa and Golf Estate | R400,000 | |||
28–30 Jun | Nashua Golf Challenge | Gary Player CC and Lost City GC, Sun City | R400,000 | New event | ||
1–3 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf Bloemfontein | Bloemfontein GC | R400,000 | |||
22–24 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf Fancourt | Fancourt GC | R400,000 | |||
29–31 Aug | Telkom PGA Pro-Am | Centurion CC | R350,000 | |||
6–8 Sep | Seekers Travel Pro-Am | Dainfern CC | R400,000 | |||
26–28 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf Final | St Francis Links | R400,000 | |||
5–7 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Witbank GC | R400,000 | |||
18–20 Oct | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Windhoek Country Club, Namibia | R700,000 | |||
25–27 Oct | Platinum Classic | Mooinooi GC | R705,000 | |||
20–22 Nov | Coca-Cola Charity Championship | Arabella GC | R500,000 | |||
26–28 Nov | Nedbank Affinity Cup | Lost City GC, Sun City | R500,000 | New event | ||
29 Nov – 2 Dec | Nedbank Golf Challenge | Gary Player CC, Sun City | $4,385,000 | 34 | ||
6–9 Dec | Alfred Dunhill Championship | Leopard Creek CC, Malelane | €1,000,000 | 22 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour | |
18–21 Dec | South African Airways Open | Pearl Valley Golf Estates | €1,000,000 | 32 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
Order of Merit
Rank | Player[2] | Country | Events | Prize Money (R) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | James Kingston | 10 | 1,980,688.65 | |
2 | Louis Oosthuizen | 8 | 1,596,845.50 | |
3 | Andrew McLardy | 5 | 1,387,474.85 | |
4 | Hennie Otto | 20 | 1,331,375.79 | |
5 | Richard Sterne | 5 | 966,546.55 |
Ernie Els was the fifth highest money winner (with R1,120,503.20) but did not qualify for the Order of Merit, having only played in three events. John Bickerton and Ariel Cañete were second and fourth respectively in the money list thanks to their victories in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Joburg Open, but as non tour members, and having not entered sufficient events, they were also ineligible for the Order of Merit.
References
- "2007 Sunshine Tour schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- "2007 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2007-12-16. Retrieved 2009-01-07.