2002–03 Sunshine Tour
The 2002–03 Sunshine Tour was the third 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 15 official events on the schedule. This was an decrease of eight from the previous year, and represents the fewest in the 15 seasons that Sunshine Tour has existed. There were eight tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated: the Goldfields Powerade Classic, the Bloemfontein Classic, the Randfontein Classic, the Atlantic Beach Classic, the Western Cape Classic, the Graceland Challenge, Cock of the North (Zambia), and the CABS/Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open (which resumed in 2010). The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 11 of the 15 official 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.
The Order of Merit was won by Trevor Immelman.
Schedule
The table below shows schedule of events for the 2002–03 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 21–24 Feb | Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open | Royal Swazi Sun Country Club, Swaziland | 275,000 |  Andrew McLardy (3) |
[1] | |
| 2002 | 7–10 Mar | Stanbic Zambia Open | Lusaka Golf Club, Zambia | 450,000 |  Marc Cayeux (5) |
Co-sanctioned with Challenge Tour | [2] |
| 2002 | 21–23 Mar | FNB Botswana Open | Gaborone Golf Club, Botswana | 200,000 | Hendrik Buhrmann (6) |
[3] | |
| 2002 | 9–11 May | Limpopo Industrelek Classic | Pietersburg Golf Club | 125,000 | Hennie Otto (3) |
[4] | |
| 2002 | 17–19 May | Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Royal Swazi Sun Country Club, Swaziland | 100,000 | James Kingston (7) |
[5] | |
| 2002 | 26–28 Sep | Vodacom Golf Classic | Royal JHB & Kensington G.C | 125,000 | Ashley Roestoff (10) |
Last year of tournament | [6] |
| 2002 | 4–6 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Witbank Golf Club | 125,000 | Titch Moore (3) |
[7] | |
| 2002 | 1–3 Nov | Platinum Classic | Mooi Nooi Golf Club | 300,000 | Titch Moore (4) |
[8] | |
| 2002 | 14–17 Nov | Telkom PGA Championship | Woodhill Country Club | 650,000 | Michiel Bothma (1) |
[9] | |
| 2002 | 21–24 Nov | Nashua Masters | Wild Coast Sun Country Club | 500,000 | Hennie Otto (4) |
[10] | |
| 2002 | 5–8 Dec | Vodacom Players Championship | Royal Cape Golf Club | 1,000,000 | Mark McNulty (33) |
Last year of tournament | [11] |
| 2003 | 9–12 Jan | South African Airways Open | Erinvale Golf Club | 3,000,000 | Trevor Immelman (2) |
Co-sanctioned with European Tour | [12] |
| 2003 | 16–19 Jan | Dunhill Championship | Houghton Golf Club | 2,500,000 |  Mark Foster |
Co-sanctioned with European Tour | [13] |
| 2003 | 23–26 Jan | Dimension Data Better-Ball | Gary Player Country Club | 100,000 | Hennie Otto |
Unofficial tournament Last year of tournament |
[14] |
| 2003 | 23–26 Jan | Dimension Data Pro-Am | Gary Player Country Club | 1,000,000 | Trevor Immelman (3) |
[15] | |
| 2003 | 30 Jan – 2 Feb | The Tour Championship | Leopard Creek Country Club | 1,200,000 | Hennie Otto (5) |
[16] |
Order of Merit
| Rank | Player[17] | Country | Events | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trevor Immelman | South Africa |
4 | 2,044,279.45 |
| 2 | Mark Foster | England |
4 | 1,110,935.00 |
| 3 | Hennie Otto | South Africa |
10 | 877,118.15 |
| 4 | Bradford Vaughan | South Africa |
13 | 854,746.01 |
| 5 | Mark McNulty | Zimbabwe |
7 | 580,960.42 |
References
- ^ Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open results
- ^ Stanbic Zambia Open results
- ^ FNB Botswana Open results
- ^ Limpopo Industrelek Classic results
- ^ Royal Swazi Sun Classic results
- ^ Vodacom Golf Classic results
- ^ Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
- ^ Platinum Classic results
- ^ Telkom PGA Championship results
- ^ Nashua Masters results
- ^ Vodacom Players Championship results
- ^ South African Airways Open results
- ^ Dunhill Championship results
- ^ Dimension Data Better Ball results
- ^ Dimension Data Pro-Am results
- ^ The Tour Championship results
- ^ "2002/2003 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2003-02-02. Retrieved 2014-07-19.