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 |  Ariel Cañete (N/A) |
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 |  Louis Oosthuizen (1) |
14 | |
| 1–4 Feb | Nashua Masters | Wild Coast Sun CC | R1,200,000 | Jean Hugo (5) |
14 | |
| 15–18 Feb | Vodacom Championship | Pretoria CC | R2,200,000 | Richard Sterne (2) |
14 | |
| 22–25 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | The Country Club, Johannesburg | R2,250,000 | Louis Oosthuizen (2) |
14 | |
| 8–11 Mar | Mount Edgecombe Trophy | Mount Edgecombe GC | R500,000 | Steve van Vuuren (7) |
New event, last held in 1994 | |
| 30 Mar – 1 Apr | Finance Bank Zambia Open | Ndola GC, Lusaka, Zambia | R750,000 | Steve Basson (3) |
||
| 13–15 Apr | Eskom Power Cup | Pecanwood Golf Estate | R400,000 | Chris Swanepoel (1) |
||
| 18–20 Apr | Vodacom Origins of Golf Arabella | Arabella GC | R400,000 | Andrew Curlewis (1) |
||
| 2–5 May | Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open | Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland | R600,000 | Des Terblanche (12) |
||
| 9–11 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf Pretoria | Pretoria CC | R400,000 | Hennie Otto (7) |
||
| 17–19 May | Suncoast Classic | Durban CC | R400,000 |  Adilson da Silva (3) |
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| 8–10 Jun | Lombard Insurance Classic | Royal Swazi GC, Swaziland | R350,000 | Peter Karmis (1) |
New event | |
| 13–15 Jun | Vodacom Origins of Golf Selborne | Selborne Hotel Spa and Golf Estate | R400,000 | George Coetzee (1) |
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| 28–30 Jun | Nashua Golf Challenge | Gary Player CC and Lost City GC, Sun City | R400,000 | Warren Abery (6) |
New event | |
| 1–3 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf Bloemfontein | Bloemfontein GC | R400,000 | Ulrich van den Berg (5) |
||
| 22–24 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf Fancourt | Fancourt GC | R400,000 | Adilson da Silva (4) |
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| 29–31 Aug | Telkom PGA Pro-Am | Centurion CC | R350,000 | Michiel Bothma (2) |
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| 6–8 Sep | Seekers Travel Pro-Am | Dainfern CC | R400,000 | James Kamte (1) |
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| 26–28 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf Final | St Francis Links | R400,000 | Titch Moore (6) |
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| 5–7 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Witbank GC | R400,000 |  Marc Cayeux (8) |
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| 18–20 Oct | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Windhoek Country Club, Namibia | R700,000 | Keith Horne (2) |
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| 25–27 Oct | Platinum Classic | Mooinooi GC | R705,000 | Louis Oosthuizen (3) |
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| 20–22 Nov | Coca-Cola Charity Championship | Arabella GC | R500,000 | Titch Moore (7) |
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| 26–28 Nov | Nedbank Affinity Cup | Lost City GC, Sun City | R500,000 | Mark Murless (3) |
New event | |
| 29 Nov – 2 Dec | Nedbank Golf Challenge | Gary Player CC, Sun City | $4,385,000 | Trevor Immelman (5) |
34 | |
| 6–9 Dec | Alfred Dunhill Championship | Leopard Creek CC, Malelane | €1,000,000 |  John Bickerton (N/A) |
22 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| 18–21 Dec | South African Airways Open | Pearl Valley Golf Estates | €1,000,000 | James Kingston (9) |
32 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
Order of Merit
| Rank | Player[2] | Country | Events | Prize Money (R) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Kingston | South Africa | 10 | 1,980,688.65 |
| 2 | Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 8 | 1,596,845.50 |
| 3 | Andrew McLardy | South Africa | 5 | 1,387,474.85 |
| 4 | Hennie Otto | South Africa | 20 | 1,331,375.79 |
| 5 | Richard Sterne | South Africa | 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.