Year: | 1975–76 |
Tour: | Southern Africa Tour |
Regular Season: | – |
No Of Events: | 9 |
Most Wins: | Dale Hayes (3) Allan Henning (3) |
Honor1: | Order of Merit |
Honoree1: | Allan Henning |
Prevseason: | 1974–75 |
Nextseason: | 1976–77 |
The 1975–76 Southern Africa Tour was the fifth season of the Southern Africa Tour. The season was dominated by Dale Hayes and Allan Henning who won the majority of the events. Hayes started the season excellently, winning the first two events. However, Henning won the Datsun International and NCR Western Province Open to close in on the Order of Merit race. Hayes won the flagship event, the BP South African Open, but Henning won the season's final event, the Rhodesian Dunlop Masters, to capture Order of Merit honors.
The first tournament of the season was the Beck's PGA Championship at Wanderers Golf Club. There was a 36-hole finale due to a rainout on Friday. Hayes shot a 62 (−8) in the third round which "virtually assured" that he would be victorious.[1] He it described as his best round ever.[2] The round broke the course recorded by three shots. Hayes followed it up with a three-under-par 67 to defeat Henning, the solo runner-up, by six shots. Hayes won the following event, the Holiday Inns Open, as well, defeating John Fourie in a playoff.[3]
Henning won the fourth official tournament of the season, the Datsun International, while Hayes finished runner-up.[4] The next week, at the ICL International, Hayes and Henning finished joint runner-up, one behind England's Peter Townsend.[5] Henning then won the next event, the NCR Western Province Open.[6] In late January, Hayes tied John Fourie at the end of regulation at the BP South African Open.[7] Like earlier in the season, Hayes again defeated Fourie in a playoff.[8] Henning, however, won the final event of the year, the Rhodesian Dunlop Masters.[9] This assured that he secured the Order of Merit by a small margin over Hayes.
The following table lists official events during the 1975–76 season.[10] [11]
Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) | Winner | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
29 Nov | Transvaal | 35,000 | Dale Hayes (9) | |||
6 Dec | Holiday Inns Open | Swaziland | 20,000 | Dale Hayes (10) | ||
13 Dec | Cape | 20,000 | Gary Player (9) | |||
10 Jan | Transvaal | 20,000 | Allan Henning (3) | |||
Natal | – | Cancelled | ||||
17 Jan | Transvaal | 20,000 | Peter Townsend (1) | |||
24 Jan | Cape | 15,000 | Allan Henning (4) | |||
31 Jan | Transvaal | 20,000 | Dale Hayes (11) | |||
7 Feb | Transvaal | 18,000 | Gary Player (10) | |||
15 Feb | Rhodesia | 15,000 | Allan Henning (5) |
The following events were sanctioned by the Southern Africa Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[11]
Position | Player | Prize money (R) | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 18,275 | ||
2 | 17,630 | ||
3 | 12,001 | ||
4 | 10,413 | ||
5 | 9,880 |