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.

2002–03 Sunshine Tour season
Duration21 February 2002 (2002-02-21) – 2 February 2003 (2003-02-02)
Number of official events15
Most wins3:
South Africa Hennie Otto
Order of MeritSouth Africa Trevor Immelman

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.

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 Trevor Immelman.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2002–03 season.

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)		 Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]		 Notes Ref.
24 FebCapital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland275,000South Africa Andrew McLardy (3)12[1]
10 MarStanbic Zambia OpenZambia€95,000Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux (5)10CHA[2]
23 MarFNB Botswana OpenBotswana200,000South Africa Hendrik Buhrmann (6)n/a[3]
11 MayLimpopo Industrelek ClassicLimpopo125,000South Africa Hennie Otto (3)n/a[4]
19 MayRoyal Swazi Sun ClassicSwaziland100,000South Africa James Kingston (7)n/a[5]
28 SepVodacom Golf ClassicGauteng125,000South Africa Ashley Roestoff (10)n/a[6]
6 OctBearing Man Highveld ClassicMpumalanga125,000South Africa Titch Moore (3)n/a[7]
3 NovPlatinum ClassicNorth West300,000South Africa Titch Moore (4)n/a[8]
17 NovTelkom PGA ChampionshipGauteng650,000South Africa Michiel Bothma (1)12[9]
24 NovNashua MastersEastern Cape500,000South Africa Hennie Otto (4)12[10]
8 DecVodacom Players ChampionshipWestern Cape1,000,000Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (33)12[11]
12 JanSouth African Airways OpenWestern Cape3,000,000South Africa Trevor Immelman (2)32EURFlagship event[12]
19 JanDunhill ChampionshipGauteng2,500,000England Mark Foster (2)18EUR[13]
26 JanDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,000,000South Africa Trevor Immelman (3)16Pro-Am[14]
2 FebThe Tour ChampionshipMpumalanga1,200,000South Africa Hennie Otto (5)12Tour Championship[15]

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[16]

PositionPlayerEventsPrize money (R)
1South Africa Trevor Immelman42,044,279
2England Mark Foster41,110,935
3South Africa Hennie Otto10877,118
4South Africa Bradford Vaughan13854,746
5Zimbabwe Mark McNulty7580,960

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. CHA − Challenge Tour; EUR − European Tour.

References
  1. Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open results
  2. Stanbic Zambia Open results
  3. FNB Botswana Open results
  4. Limpopo Industrelek Classic results
  5. Royal Swazi Sun Classic results
  6. Vodacom Golf Classic results
  7. Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
  8. Platinum Classic results
  9. Telkom PGA Championship results
  10. Nashua Masters results
  11. Vodacom Players Championship results
  12. South African Airways Open results
  13. Dunhill Championship results
  14. Dimension Data Pro-Am results
  15. The Tour Championship results
  16. "2002/2003 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2003-02-02. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
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