2011 Sunshine Tour
The 2011 Sunshine Tour is the 12th season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was relaunched in 2000, and the 5th 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 Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Zambia and Namibia.
Schedule
The table below shows schedule of events for the 2011 Sunshine Tour season.[1] As usual, the tour consists 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.
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 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5–9 Jan | Africa Open | East London, Eastern Cape | €1,000,000 | 22 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour | |
13–16 Jan | Joburg Open | Johannesburg, Gauteng | €1,300,000 | 20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour | |
27–30 Jan | Africom Zimbabwe Open | Harare, Zimbabwe | R1,250,000 | 14 | Shortened to 54 holes due to weather | |
17–20 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | George, Western Cape | R3,000,000 | 14 | ||
24–27 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | Johannesburg, Gauteng | R3,250,000 | 14 | ||
17–20 Mar | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Windhoek, Namibia | R1,200,000 | 14 | ||
4–7 May | Investec Royal Swazi Open | Swaziland | R750,000 | 14 | ||
12–14 May | Nashua Golf Challenge | Sun City, North West | R500,000 | n/a | ||
25–27 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Pretoria) | Pretoria, Gauteng | R540,000 | n/a | ||
3–5 Jun | Lombard Insurance Classic | Swaziland | R850,000 | n/a | ||
8–10 Jun | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Arabella) | Western Cape | R540,000 | n/a | ||
27–29 Jul | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Simola) | Eastern Cape | R540,000 | n/a | ||
10–12 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Wild Coast) | Kwazulu-Natal | R540,000 | n/a | ||
31 Aug–2 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Sishen) | Northern Cape | R540,000 | n/a | ||
7–9 Sep | Telkom PGA Pro-Am | Gauteng | R500,000 | n/a | ||
15–17 Sep | Northern Cape Classic | Northern Cape | R600,000 | n/a | New tournament | |
21–23 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Final | Limpopo | R600,000 | n/a | ||
6–8 Oct | Platinum Classic | North West | R500,000 | n/a | ||
12–15 Oct | KCM Zambia Open | Chingola, Zambia | R1,200,000 | 14 | ||
20–22 Oct | Suncoast Classic | Kwazulu-Natal | R500,000 | n/a | ||
28–30 Oct | BMG Classic | Johannesburg, Gauteng | R600,000 | n/a | ||
3–6 Nov | Nashua Masters | Kwazulu-Natal | R1,200,000 | 14 | ||
8–10 Nov | Nedbank Affinity Cup | North West | R600,000 | n/a | ||
17–20 Nov | Alfred Dunhill Championship | Malelane | €1,000,000 | 20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour | |
24–27 Nov | South African Open | Ekurhuleni | €1,000,000 | 32 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour | |
1–4 Dec | Nedbank Golf Challenge | Sun City, North West | US$5,000,000 | 38 |
Order of Merit
Rank | Player[2] | Country | Events | Prize money (R) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Garth Mulroy | 6 | 3,464,463 | |
2 | Hennie Otto | 7 | 2,806,214 | |
3 | George Coetzee | 9 | 1,586,587 | |
4 | Thomas Aiken | 6 | 1,569,896 | |
5 | Jaco Van Zyl | 8 | 1,231,134 |
Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen were ineligible for the Order of Merit having only played in three and one tournaments, respectively, during the season. Schwartzel earned R2,211,553 and Oosthuizen earned R1,394,800 from those events.
References
- "2011 Sunshine Tour schedule". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 10 November 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- "2011 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.