2001–02 Sunshine Tour
The 2001–02 Sunshine Tour was the second 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 22 official events on the schedule. This was an decrease of one from the previous year, but there was a significant change in the list of tournaments.
There were eight tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated or not played:
- Riviera Resort Classic
- Vodacom Series: Eastern Cape
- Vodacom Series: Gauteng
- Emfuleni Classic
- Ernie Els Invitational
- Observatory Classic
- Lombard Tyres Classic
- Royal Swazi Sun Open (which resumed in 2003)
There were seven tournaments added for this season:
- Goldfields Powerade Classic (played in 2001 only)
- Blomfontein Classic (first time played since 1995; not played after this season)
- Randfontein Classic (played in 2001 only)
- Atlantic Beach Classic (played in 2001 only)
- Graceland Challenge (played in 2001 only)
- Vodacom Trophy (played one more time, as the Vodacom Golf Classic in 2002)
- Royal Swazi Sun Classic (played 2001–04)
The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 17 of the 22 official tournaments being held in the country. One event each was held in Botswana, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe and two in Zambia. Two events, the Dunhill Championship and the South African Airways Open were co-sanctioned by the European Tour.
The Order of Merit was won by Tim Clark.
Schedule
The table below shows schedule of events for the 2001–02 Sunshine 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.
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.
Year | Dates | Tournament | Venue (RSA unless stated) |
Prize fund (R) |
Winner | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | 8–11 Mar | Stanbic Zambia Open | Lusaka Golf Club, Zambia | 275,000 | ![]() |
[1] | |
2001 | 16–18 Mar | Cock of the North | Ndola Golf Club, Zambia | 100,000 | ![]() |
Last year of tournament | [2] |
2001 | 29–31 Mar | FNB Botswana Open | Gaborone Golf Club, Botswana | 125,000 | ![]() |
[3] | |
2001 | 20–22 Apr | Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Royal Swazi Sun Country Club, Swaziland | 100,000 | ![]() |
New tournament | [4] |
2001 | 10–12 May | Pietersburg Industrelek Classic | Pietersburg Golf Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
[5] | |
2001 | 7–9 Sep | Goldfields Powerade Classic | Oppenheimer Park Golf Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
New tournament, only played in 2001 | [6] |
2001 | 11–13 Sep | Bloemfontein Classic | Schoeman Park Golf Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
New tournament, first time played since 1995 | [7] |
2001 | 26–28 Sep | Randfontein Classic | Randfontein Country Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
New tournament, only played in 2001 | [8] |
2001 | 5–7 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Witbank Golf Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
[9] | |
2001 | 10–12 Oct | Atlantic Beach Classic | Atlantic Beach Golf Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
New tournament, only played in 2001 | [10] |
2001 | 18–20 Oct | Western Cape Classic | Rondebosch Golf Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
Last year of tournament | [11] |
2001 | 25–27 Oct | Vodacom Trophy | Zwartkop Country Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
New tournament | [12] |
2001 | 8–10 Nov | Graceland Challenge | Graceland Country Club | 100,000 | ![]() |
New tournament, only played in 2001 | [13] |
2001 | 16–18 Nov | Platinum Classic | Mooi Nooi Golf Club | 225,000 | ![]() |
[14] | |
2001 | 22–25 Nov | CABS/Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open | Chapman Golf Club, Zimbabwe | 450,000 | ![]() |
Last year of tournament until 2010 | [15] |
2001 | 7–9 Dec | Vodacom Players Championship | Royal Cape Golf Club | 800,000 | ![]() |
[16] | |
2002 | 10–13 Jan | Bell's South African Open Championship | Durban Country Club | 4,250,000 | ![]() |
Co-sanctioned with European Tour | [17] |
2002 | 17–20 Jan | Dunhill Championship | Houghton Golf Club | 3,500,000 | ![]() |
Co-sanctioned with European Tour | [18] |
2002 | 24–27 Jan | Telkom PGA Championship | Woodhill Country Club | 475,000 | ![]() |
[19] | |
2002 | 31 Jan – 3 Feb | Dimension Data Better Ball | Gary Player Country Club | 110,000 | ![]() |
Unofficial tournament | [20] |
2002 | 31 Jan – 3 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | Gary Player Country Club | 1,250,000 | ![]() |
[21] | |
2002 | 7–10 Feb | Nashua Masters | Wild Coast Sun Country Club | 500,000 | ![]() |
[22] | |
2002 | 14–17 Feb | The Tour Championship | Leopard Creek Country Club | 1,100,000 | ![]() |
[23] |
Order of Merit
Rank | Player[24] | Country | Events | Prize money (R) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tim Clark | ![]() |
7 | 1,669,900.71 |
2 | Justin Rose | ![]() |
4 | 1,476,005.60 |
3 | Retief Goosen | ![]() |
4 | 1,364,977.34 |
4 | Martin Maritz | ![]() |
8 | 1,042,806.00 |
5 | James Kingston | ![]() |
10 | 706,234.01 |
References
- ^ Stanbic Zambia Open results
- ^ Cock Of The North results
- ^ FNB Botswana Open results
- ^ Royal Swazi Sun Classic results
- ^ Pietersburg Industrelek Classic results
- ^ Goldfields Powerade Classic results
- ^ Bloemfontein Classic results
- ^ Randfontein Classic results
- ^ Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
- ^ Atlantic Beach Classic results
- ^ Western Cape Classic results
- ^ Vodacom Trophy results
- ^ Graceland Challenge results
- ^ Platinum Classic results
- ^ CABS/Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open results
- ^ Vodacom Players Championship results
- ^ Bell's South African Open Championship results
- ^ Dunhill Championship results
- ^ Telkom PGA Championship results
- ^ Dimension Data Better Ball results
- ^ Dimension Data Pro-Am results
- ^ Nashua Masters results
- ^ The Tour Championship results
- ^ "2001/2002 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2002-02-17. Retrieved 2014-07-19.