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.
Duration | 8 March 2001 – 17 February 2002 |
---|---|
Number of official events | 22 |
Most wins | 2:![]() |
Order of Merit | ![]() |
← 2000–01 2002–03 → |
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.
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 Tim Clark.
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2001–02 season.
Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[lower-alpha 1] | OWGR points |
Other tours[lower-alpha 2] |
Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
11 Mar | Stanbic Zambia Open | Zambia | £50,000 | ![]() | 6 | CHA | [1] | |
18 Mar | Cock of The North | Zambia | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | [2] | ||
31 Mar | FNB Botswana Open | Botswana | 125,000 | ![]() | n/a | [3] | ||
22 Apr | Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Swaziland | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | [4] | ||
12 May | Pietersburg Industrelek Classic | Limpopo | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | [5] | ||
9 Sep | Goldfields Powerade Classic | Free State | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | New tournament | [6] | |
13 Sep | Bloemfontein Classic | Free State | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | [7] | ||
28 Sep | Randfontein Classic | Gauteng | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | New tournament | [8] | |
7 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Mpumalanga | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | [9] | ||
12 Oct | Atlantic Beach Classic | Western Cape | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | New tournament | [10] | |
20 Oct | Western Cape Classic | Western Cape | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | [11] | ||
27 Oct | Vodacom Trophy | Gauteng | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | New tournament | [12] | |
10 Nov | Graceland Challenge | Mpumalanga | 100,000 | ![]() | n/a | New tournament | [13] | |
18 Nov | Platinum Classic | North West | 225,000 | ![]() | n/a | [14] | ||
25 Nov | CABS/Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open | Zimbabwe | 450,000 | ![]() | 12 | [15] | ||
9 Dec | Vodacom Players Championship | Western Cape | 800,000 | ![]() | 20 | [16] | ||
13 Jan | Bell's South African Open | KwaZulu-Natal | £500,000 | ![]() | 32 | EUR | Flagship event | [17] |
20 Jan | Dunhill Championship | Gauteng | 3,500,000 | ![]() | 22 | EUR | [18] | |
27 Jan | Telkom PGA Championship | Gauteng | 475,000 | ![]() | 12 | [19] | ||
3 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | North West | 1,250,000 | ![]() | 26 | Pro-Am | [20] | |
10 Feb | Nashua Masters | Eastern Cape | 500,000 | ![]() | 12 | [21] | ||
17 Feb | The Tour Championship | Mpumalanga | 1,100,000 | ![]() | 12 | 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]
Position | Player | Events | Prize money (R) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 7 | 1,669,901 |
2 | ![]() | 4 | 1,476,006 |
3 | ![]() | 4 | 1,364,977 |
4 | ![]() | 8 | 1,042,806 |
5 | ![]() | 10 | 706,234 |
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
- 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 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.