2010 Sunshine Tour

The 2010 Sunshine Tour was the 11th season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was relaunched in 2000, and the 4th 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 is based predominantly in South Africa with other events being held in neighbouring countries, including Swaziland, Zambia and Namibia.

The Order of Merit was won by Charl Schwartzel.[1]

Schedule

The table below shows schedule of events for the 2010 Sunshine Tour.[2] As usual, the tour consisted of two distinct parts, commonly referred to as the "Summer Swing" and the "Winter Swing". Tournaments held during the Summer Swing generally have much higher prize funds, attract stronger fields, and are the only tournaments on the tour to carry world ranking points, with some 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 some events being held at the start of the year, and the remainder in December. The Winter Swing ran from April to early December.

Prize funds shown do 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 Location
(RSA unless stated)		 Prize fund Winner OWGR
points		 Notes
7–10 Jan Africa Open East London, Eastern Cape €1,000,000 Charl Schwartzel (3) 20 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
14–17 Jan Joburg Open Johannesburg, Gauteng €1,300,000 Charl Schwartzel (4) 22 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
11–14 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am George, Western Cape R3,000,000 Darren Fichardt (10) 14
18–21 Feb Telkom PGA Championship Johannesburg, Gauteng R3,000,000 Michiel Bothma (3) 14
25–28 Feb Vodacom Championship Pretoria, Gauteng R2,650,000 Hennie Otto (9) 14
14–16 Apr Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour Centurion, Gauteng R510,000 Jean Hugo (8) n/a
31–24 Apr Africom Zimbabwe Open Harare, Zimbabwe R1,200,000 Jbe' Kruger (2) 14
28–30 Apr Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour Clarens, Free State R510,000 Jaco van Zyl (6) n/a
5–8 May Investec Royal Swazi Sun Open Swaziland R750,000 Keith Horne (4) n/a
13–15 May Nashua Golf Challenge Sun City, North West R500,000 Jaco van Zyl (7) n/a
4–6 Jun Lombard Insurance Classic Swaziland R700,000 Grant Muller (2) n/a
28–30 Jul Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape R510,000 Ulrich van den Berg (6) n/a
18–20 Aug Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour Durban, Kwazulu-Natal R510,000 James Kingston (11) n/a
27–29 Aug Zambia Open Ndola, Zambia R850,000 Adilson da Silva (6) n/a
1–3 Sept Telkom PGA Pro-Am Centurion, Gauteng R500,000 Jaco van Zyl (8) n/a
9–11 Sept SAA Pro-Am Invitational Johannesburg, Gauteng R500,000 Tyrone Ferreira (2) n/a
16–18 Sept Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour Stellenbosch, Western Cape R510,000 Jean Hugo (9) n/a
23–25 Sept SAA Pro-Am Invitational Paarl, Western Cape R500,000 Jaco van Zyl (9) n/a
30 Sept–2 Oct SAA Pro-Am Invitational KwaDukuza, Kwazulu-Natal R500,000 Michiel Bothma (4) n/a
13–15 Oct Vodacom Business Origins of Golf Tour Final George, Western Cape R510,000 Justin Harding (1) n/a
22–24 Oct Suncoast Classic Durban, Kwazulu-Natal R500,000 Adilson da Silva (7) n/a
28–30 Oct Platinum Classic Mooinooi, North West R705,000 Jean Hugo (10) n/a
4–7 Nov Nashua Masters Port Edward, KwaZulu-Natal R1,200,000 Warren Abery (7) 14
12–14 Nov BMG Classic Johannesburg, Gauteng R550,000 Brandon Pieters (4) n/a
16–18 Nov Coca-Cola Charity Championship George, Western Cape R550,000 Branden Grace (1) n/a
2–5 Dec Nedbank Golf Challenge Sun City, North West $5,000,000 Lee Westwood (n/a) 34
9–12 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship Malalane, Mpumalanga €1,000,000 Pablo Martín (n/a) 20 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
16–19 Dec South African Open Championship Durban, Kwazulu-Natal €1,000,000 Ernie Els (16) 32 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Order of Merit
RankPlayer[3]CountryEventsPrize Money (R)
1Charl Schwartzel South Africa65,097,913.58
2Thomas Aiken South Africa71,959,542.78
3Keith Horne South Africa121,904,949.69
4Jbe' Kruger South Africa161,768,631.59
5Louis Oosthuizen South Africa71,392,835.00

Ernie Els was ineligible for the Order of Merit having only played in two tournaments during the season. The R1,467,200 he earned from those events would have been enough for 5th place.

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References
  1. "Schwartzel wins BMW for ace". Sport24. 20 December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
  2. "2010 Sunshine Tour schedule". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 2010-09-14. Retrieved 2010-01-07.
  3. "2010 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 19 December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
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