2003–04 Sunshine Tour

The 2003–04 Sunshine Tour was the fourth 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.

2003–04 Sunshine Tour season
Duration5 March 2003 (2003-03-05) – 22 February 2004 (2004-02-22)
Number of official events17
Most wins2:
South Africa Andrew McLardy
Order of MeritSouth Africa Darren Fichardt

There were 17 tournaments on the schedule. This was an increase of one from the previous year. There were three tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated: the Dimension Data Better-Ball tournament, the Vodacom Golf Classic, and the Vodacom Players Championship. Three new tournaments were added: the Canon Classic (played in 2003 only), the Devondale Championship (played in 2003 only), and the Parmalat Classic. The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 13 of the 17 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 Darren Fichardt.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2003–04 season.

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)		 Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]		 Notes Ref.
9 MarStanbic Zambia OpenZambia€100,000Sweden Johan Edfors (n/a)10CHA[1]
29 MarFNB Botswana OpenBotswana150,000South Africa Trevor Fisher Jnr (1)n/a[2]
10 MayLimpopo Industrelek ClassicLimpopo175,000Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux (6)n/a[3]
18 MayCapital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland175,000South Africa Des Terblanche (11)n/a[4]
30 MayDevonvale ChampionshipWestern Cape100,000South Africa Hendrik Buhrmann (7)n/aNew tournament[5]
7 JunCanon ClassicWestern Cape100,000South Africa Tyrol Auret (1)n/aNew tournament[6]
22 JunRoyal Swazi Sun ClassicSwaziland100,000South Africa Nic Henning (2)n/a[7]
27 JunParmalat ClassicEastern Cape100,000South Africa Desvonde Botes (9)n/aNew tournament[8]
4 OctSeekers Travel Pro-AmGauteng100,000South Africa Chris Williams (7)n/aNew tournament[9]
12 OctBearing Man Highveld ClassicMpumalanga100,000South Africa Dion Fourie (1)n/a[10]
1 NovPlatinum ClassicNorth West300,000Scotland Doug McGuigan (1)n/a[11]
18 JanSouth African Airways OpenWestern Cape2,650,000South Africa Trevor Immelman (4)32EURFlagship event[12]
25 JanDunhill ChampionshipGauteng3,100,000Germany Marcel Siem (n/a)18EUR[13]
1 FebDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,000,000South Africa Darren Fichardt (4)12Pro-Am[14]
8 FebNashua MastersEastern Cape500,000South Africa Andrew McLardy (4)12[15]
15 FebTelkom PGA ChampionshipGauteng600,000South Africa Warrick Druian (2)12[16]
22 FebThe Tour ChampionshipMpumalanga1,200,000South Africa Andrew McLardy (5)12Tour Championship[17]

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[18]

PositionPlayerEventsPrize money (R)
1South Africa Darren Fichardt6726,545
2South Africa Andrew McLardy7617,278
3South Africa Desvonde Botes16457,265
4South Africa Louis Oosthuizen8381,729
5South Africa Titch Moore10368,710

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. Stanbic Zambia Open results
  2. FNB Botswana Open results
  3. Limpopo Industrelek Classic results
  4. Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open results
  5. Devonvale Championship results
  6. Canon Classic results
  7. Royal Swazi Sun Classic results
  8. Parmalat Classic results
  9. Seekers Travel Pro-Am results
  10. Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
  11. Platinum Classic results
  12. South African Airways Open results
  13. Dunhill Championship results
  14. Dimension Data Pro-Am results
  15. Nashua Masters results
  16. Telkom PGA Championship results
  17. The Tour Championship results
  18. "2003/2004 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2004-02-22. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
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