2003–04 Sunshine Tour
| Duration | 5 March 2003 – 22 February 2004 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 17 |
| Most wins | 2: Andrew McLardy |
| Order of Merit | Darren Fichardt |
← 2002–03 2004–05 → | |
The 2003–04 Sunshine Tour was the fourth season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was rebranded in 2000. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region.
There were 17 tournaments on the schedule. This was an increase of one from the previous year. There were three tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated: the Dimension Data Better-Ball tournament, the Vodacom Golf Classic, and the Vodacom Players Championship. Three new tournaments were added: the Canon Classic (played in 2003 only), the Devondale Championship (played in 2003 only), and the Parmalat Classic. The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 13 of the 17 tournaments being held in the country. Two events were held in Swaziland, and one event each was held in Botswana and Zambia. Two events, the Dunhill Championship and the South African Airways Open were co-sanctioned by the European Tour.
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.
The Order of Merit was won by Darren Fichardt.
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2003–04 season.
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[a] | OWGR points |
Other tours[b] |
Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Mar | Stanbic Zambia Open | Zambia | €100,000 |  Johan Edfors (n/a) |
10 | CHA | [1] | |
| 29 Mar | FNB Botswana Open | Botswana | 150,000 | Trevor Fisher Jnr (1) |
n/a | [2] | ||
| 10 May | Limpopo Industrelek Classic | Limpopo | 175,000 |  Marc Cayeux (6) |
n/a | [3] | ||
| 18 May | Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open | Swaziland | 175,000 | Des Terblanche (11) |
n/a | [4] | ||
| 30 May | Devonvale Championship | Western Cape | 100,000 | Hendrik Buhrmann (7) |
n/a | New tournament | [5] | |
| 7 Jun | Canon Classic | Western Cape | 100,000 | Tyrol Auret (1) |
n/a | New tournament | [6] | |
| 22 Jun | Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Swaziland | 100,000 | Nic Henning (2) |
n/a | [7] | ||
| 27 Jun | Parmalat Classic | Eastern Cape | 100,000 | Desvonde Botes (9) |
n/a | New tournament | [8] | |
| 4 Oct | Seekers Travel Pro-Am | Gauteng | 100,000 | Chris Williams (7) |
n/a | New tournament | [9] | |
| 12 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Mpumalanga | 100,000 | Dion Fourie (1) |
n/a | [10] | ||
| 1 Nov | Platinum Classic | North West | 300,000 |  Doug McGuigan (1) |
n/a | [11] | ||
| 18 Jan | South African Airways Open | Western Cape | 2,650,000 | Trevor Immelman (4) |
32 | EUR | Flagship event | [12] |
| 25 Jan | Dunhill Championship | Gauteng | 3,100,000 |  Marcel Siem (n/a) |
18 | EUR | [13] | |
| 1 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | North West | 1,000,000 | Darren Fichardt (4) |
12 | Pro-Am | [14] | |
| 8 Feb | Nashua Masters | Eastern Cape | 500,000 | Andrew McLardy (4) |
12 | [15] | ||
| 15 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | Gauteng | 600,000 | Warrick Druian (2) |
12 | [16] | ||
| 22 Feb | The Tour Championship | Mpumalanga | 1,200,000 | Andrew McLardy (5) |
12 | Tour Championship | [17] |
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[18]
| Position | Player | Events | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Fichardt |
6 | 726,545 |
| 2 | Andrew McLardy |
7 | 617,278 |
| 3 | Desvonde Botes |
16 | 457,265 |
| 4 | Louis Oosthuizen |
8 | 381,729 |
| 5 | Titch Moore |
10 | 368,710 |
Notes
- ^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Sunshine Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Sunshine Tour members.
- ^ CHA − Challenge Tour; EUR − European Tour.
References
- ^ Stanbic Zambia Open results
- ^ FNB Botswana Open results
- ^ Limpopo Industrelek Classic results
- ^ Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open results
- ^ Devonvale Championship results
- ^ Canon Classic results
- ^ Royal Swazi Sun Classic results
- ^ Parmalat Classic results
- ^ Seekers Travel Pro-Am results
- ^ Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
- ^ Platinum Classic results
- ^ South African Airways Open results
- ^ Dunhill Championship results
- ^ Dimension Data Pro-Am results
- ^ Nashua Masters results
- ^ Telkom PGA Championship results
- ^ The Tour Championship results
- ^ "2003/2004 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2004-02-22. Retrieved 2014-07-19.