2000–01 Sunshine Tour

The 2000–01 Sunshine Tour, titled as the 2000–01 Vodacom Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the first season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was rebranded. Previously it had been known as the Southern Africa Tour.

2000–01 Sunshine Tour season
Duration16 March 2000 (2000-03-16) – 25 February 2001 (2001-02-25)
Number of official events22
Most wins3:
Zimbabwe Mark McNulty
Order of MeritZimbabwe Mark McNulty
← 1999–2000

The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region. In its first year, the prize money was over 20% lower than the amount awarded the last year of the Africa Tour (R13.6 Million in 2000–01 vs. R17.5 Million in 1999–2000).

There were 22 official events on the schedule. This was an increase of five from the last year of the Southern Africa tour, with a significant change in the list of tournaments.

There were four tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated or not played:

  • Vodacom Series: Mpumalanga
  • Vodacom Series: Kwazulu-Natal
  • Vodacom Series: Free State
  • Royal Swazi Sun Classic (which resumed in 2001)

There were nine tournaments added/restarted for this season:

  • Riviera Resort Classic (played in 2000 only)
  • Emfuleni Classic (played in 2000 only)
  • Observatory Classic (played in 2000 only)
  • Cock of the North (first time played since 1985)
  • FNB Botswana Open (first time played since 1998)
  • Stanbic Zambia Open (first time played since 1998)
  • Nashua Nedtel Cellular Masters (first time played since 1999)
  • The Tour Championship (new tournament in 2001)
  • South African PGA Championship (first time played since 1999)

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 events were held in Zambia. Two events, the Dunhill Championship and the Mercedes Benz SA Open Championship 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 Mark McNulty.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2000–01 season.

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)		 Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]		 Notes Ref.
18 MarCock of The NorthZambia100,000South Africa Titch Moore (1)n/aNew to Sunshine Tour[1]
26 MarStanbic Zambia OpenZambia320,000Republic of Ireland James Loughnane (1)n/a[2]
1 AprFNB Botswana OpenBotswana90,000South Africa Richard Kaplan (4)n/a[3]
14 AprLombard Tyres ClassicGauteng75,000South Africa Brett Liddle (6)n/a[4]
7 MayVodacom Series: GautengGauteng100,000South Africa Nico van Rensburg (5)n/a[5]
13 MayPietersburg ClassicLimpopo75,000Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux (3)n/a[6]
28 MayVodacom Series: Eastern CapeEastern Cape100,000South Africa Ryan Reid (1)n/a[7]
17 SepEmfuleni ClassicGauteng100,000South Africa Des Terblanche (11)n/aNew tournament[8]
1 OctBearing Man Highveld ClassicMpumalanga100,000South Africa Sean Pappas (4)n/a[9]
15 OctObservatory ClassicWestern Cape100,000South Africa Roger Wessels (8)n/aNew tournament[10]
29 OctWestern Cape ClassicWestern Cape100,000South Africa Jean Hugo (2)n/a[11]
12 NovPlatinum ClassicNorth West200,000South Africa Desvonde Botes (8)n/a[12]
17 NovRiviera Resort ClassicGauteng100,000South Africa Ulrich van den Berg (1)n/aNew tournament[13]
26 NovCABS/Old Mutual Zimbabwe OpenZimbabwe400,000Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (30)12[14]
10 DecVodacom Players ChampionshipWestern Cape1,000,000South Africa Trevor Immelman (1)26[15]
14 JanNashua Nedtel Cellular MastersEastern Cape500,000Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (31)12[16]
21 JanAlfred Dunhill ChampionshipGauteng3,250,000Australia Adam Scott (n/a)18EUR[17]
28 JanMercedes-Benz South African OpenEastern Cape3,800,000Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (32)32EURFlagship event[18]
4 FebDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,000,000Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (n/a)28Pro-Am[19]
11 FebSouth African PGA ChampionshipGauteng500,000South Africa Deane Pappas (1)12[20]
18 FebInvestec Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland230,000South Africa Bradford Vaughan (3)12[21]
25 FebThe Tour ChampionshipMpumalanga1,250,000South Africa Darren Fichardt (2)16New tournament
Tour Championship		[22]

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[23]

PositionPlayerEventsPrize money (R)
1Zimbabwe Mark McNulty61,603,481
2South Africa Bradford Vaughan18686,415
3South Africa Roger Wessels8632,383
4South Africa Hennie Otto12620,211
5South Africa Trevor Immelman10619,766

Notes
  1. 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.
  2. EUR − European Tour.

References
  1. Cock of the North results
  2. Stanbic Zambia Open results
  3. FNB Botswana Open results
  4. Lombard Tyres Classic results
  5. Vodacom Series: Gauteng results
  6. Pietersburg Classic results
  7. Vodacom Series: Eastern Cape results
  8. Emfuleni Classic results
  9. Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
  10. Observatory Classic results
  11. Western Cape Classic results
  12. Platinum Classic results
  13. Riviera Resort Classic results
  14. CABS Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open results
  15. Vodacom Players Championship results
  16. Nashua Nedtel Cellular Masters results
  17. Alfred Dunhill Championship results
  18. Mercedes Benz SA Open Championship results
  19. Dimension Data Pro-Am results
  20. South African PGA Championship results
  21. Investec Royal Swazi Sun Open results
  22. The Tour Championship results
  23. "2000/2001 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2001-02-25. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
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