2006–07 Sunshine Tour

The 2006–07 Sunshine Tour was the seventh season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was rebranded in 2000. It marked the last year of a seasonal calendar. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region.

2006–07 Sunshine Tour season
Duration16 March 2006 (2006-03-16) – 25 February 2007 (2007-02-25)
Number of official events28
Most wins3:
South Africa Jean Hugo
Order of MeritSouth Africa Charl Schwartzel
2007 →

In 2005–06 there had been 21 tournaments. Of those, two tournaments were last held in 2005, but there were eight tournaments added for the 2006–07 schedule bringing the total up to 27. The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 24 of the 27 tournaments being held in the country. One event each was held in Swaziland, Zambia and Namibia. The new tournaments were the Stanbic Zambia Open, which returned after a hiatus in 2005, two South African Airways Pro-Am Invitational tournaments, the Sun Coast Classic, the Eskom Power Cup, the Coca-Cola Charity Championship, the first sanctioned year of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, and the Joburg Open which was 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, with three events being co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

With the switch to a calendar-based schedule in 2007, the last five events of the 2006–07 season were also considered part of the 2007 schedule, and counted towards the final standings of both.

The Order of Merit was won for the third straight time by Charl Schwartzel.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2006–07 season.

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)		 Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]		 Notes Ref.
19 MarStanbic Zambia OpenZambia750,000South Africa Steve Basson (2)n/a[1]
21 AprVodacom Origins of Golf at ArabellaWestern Cape400,000South Africa Jean Hugo (3)n/a[2]
29 AprSAA Pro-Am InvitationalWestern Cape350,000South Africa Jean Hugo (4)n/aNew tournament series[3]
6 MaySamsung Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland550,000South Africa Thomas Aiken (6)n/a[4]
13 MaySuncoast ClassicKwaZulu-Natal350,000South Africa Alex Haindl (1)n/aNew tournament[5]
20 MaySAA Pro-Am InvitationalGauteng400,000Zimbabwe Tongoona Charamba (1)n/a[6]
26 MayVodacom Origins of Golf at PretoriaGauteng400,000South Africa Vaughn Groenewald (1)n/a[7]
30 JunVodacom Origins of Golf at SelborneKwaZulu-Natal400,000South Africa Rossouw Loubser (1)n/a[8]
18 AugVodacom Origins of Golf at BloemfonteinFree State400,000South Africa Rossouw Loubser (2)n/a[9]
25 AugTelkom PGA Pro-AmGauteng350,000Scotland Doug McGuigan (2)n/a[10]
2 SepEskom Power CupNorth West350,000South Africa Trevor Fisher Jnr (2)n/aNew tournament[11]
15 SepVodacom Origins of Golf at PezulaWestern Cape400,000South Africa Kevin Stone (4)n/a[12]
30 SepSeekers Travel Pro-AmGauteng350,000South Africa Desvonde Botes (12)n/a[13]
6 OctVodacom Origins of Golf FinalWestern Cape400,000South Africa Darren Fichardt (5)n/a[14]
15 OctBearing Man Highveld ClassicMpumalanga400,000South Africa Darren Fichardt (6)n/a[15]
21 OctMTC Namibia PGA ChampionshipNamibia650,000South Africa Anton Haig (2)n/a[16]
28 OctPlatinum ClassicNorth West600,000South Africa Vaughn Groenewald (2)n/a[17]
12 Nov HSBC Champions China US$5,000,000 South Korea Yang Yong-eun (n/a) 52 ANZ, ASA, EUR
19 NovLimpopo ClassicLimpopo1,000,000South Africa Bradford Vaughan (8)12[18]
23 NovCoca-Cola Charity ChampionshipWestern Cape500,000South Africa Alan Michell (1)n/aNew tournament[19]
3 DecNedbank Golf ChallengeNorth WestUS$4,385,000United States Jim Furyk (n/a)38New to Sunshine Tour
Limited-field event		[20]
10 DecAlfred Dunhill ChampionshipMpumalanga€1,000,000Spain Álvaro Quirós (n/a)18EUR[21]
17 DecSouth African Airways OpenEastern Cape€1,000,000South Africa Ernie Els (17)32EURFlagship event[22]
14 JanJoburg OpenGauteng€1,000,000Argentina Ariel Cañete (n/a)20EURNew tournament[23]
28 JanDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,600,000South Africa Louis Oosthuizen (2)14Pro-Am[24]
4 FebNashua MastersEastern Cape1,200,000South Africa Jean Hugo (5)14[25]
18 FebVodacom ChampionshipGauteng2,200,000South Africa Richard Sterne (2)14[26]
25 FebTelkom PGA ChampionshipGauteng2,250,000South Africa Louis Oosthuizen (3)14[27]

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[28]

PositionPlayerEventsPrize money (R)
1South Africa Charl Schwartzel71,585,117
2South Africa Louis Oosthuizen81,314,739
3South Africa Hennie Otto181,274,340
4South Africa Andrew McLardy61,239,926
5South Africa Darren Fichardt131,160,182

Ernie Els was the highest money winner (with R1,734,659.33) but did not qualify for the Order of Merit, having only played in three events. Álvaro Quirós was second in the money list (with R1,497,033.00) thanks to his victory in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, but as a non-tour member and having not entered sufficient events, he was also ineligible for the Order of Merit.

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. ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; EUR − European Tour.

References
  1. Stanbic Zambia Open results
  2. Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour at Arabella results
  3. South African Airways Pro-Am Invitational, Cape Town results
  4. Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open results
  5. Sun Coast Classic results
  6. South African Airways Pro-Am Invitational, Johannesburg results
  7. Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour at Pretoria CC results
  8. Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Kwazulu Natal results
  9. Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour at Bloemfontein GC results
  10. Telkom PGA Pro-Am results
  11. Eskom Power Cup results
  12. Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour at Pezula results
  13. Seekers Travel Pro-Am results
  14. Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Final results
  15. Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
  16. MTC Namibia PGA Championship results
  17. Platinum Classic results
  18. Limpopo Classic results
  19. Coca-Cola Charity Championship results
  20. Nedbank Golf Challenge results
  21. Alfred Dunhill Championship results
  22. SAA Open results
  23. Joburg Open results
  24. Dimension Data Pro-Am results
  25. Nashua Masters results
  26. Vodacom Championship results
  27. Telkom PGA Championship results
  28. "2006/2007 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2007-02-25. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
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