Year: | 1993–94 |
Tour: | Southern Africa Tour |
Regular Season: | – |
No Of Events: | 9 |
Most Wins: | Tony Johnstone (3) |
Honor1: | Order of Merit |
Honoree1: | Tony Johnstone |
Honor2: | Rookie of the Year |
Honoree2: | Brenden Pappas |
Prevseason: | 1992–93 |
Nextseason: | 1994–95 |
The 1993–94 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1993–94 FNB Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 23rd season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.
It was the second season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with First National Bank, that began in 1992.[1]
Zimbabweans Mark McNulty, Tony Johnstone, and Nick Price had much success at the beginning of the season. McNulty won the first tournament of the year, the FNB Players Championship.[2] Johnstone then won two national opens early in the season, the Zimbabwe Open and Philips South African Open.[3] At the unofficial Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge, meanwhile, Price scored four rounds in the mid-60s to defeat runner-up McNulty by 12 strokes. "Without a doubt it's the finest four rounds of golf I've ever put together in my life," he said after the event.[4] Johnstone won the next event, the Bell's Cup. It was his fourth consecutive win on the Southern Africa Tour going back to last season. It tied Gary Player's winning streak.[5] The following week, at the Lexington PGA Championship, David Frost defeated runner-up Price by seven shots.[6] Days later, Price opened with an eleven-under 61 at the ICL International. He broke the course record at Zwartkop Country Club by three strokes and tied for the lowest round ever on the Southern Africa Tour.[7] Price would go to win by nine over Frost and American Bruce Vaughan. It was his third win at the event.[8]
A variety of little known overseas golfers had success over the remainder of the season. The seventh tournament, the Telkom South African Masters, was won by Englishman Chris Davison. It was first win on tour.[9] The following event, the Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic, was won by American Omar Uresti.[10] He defeated fellow American Andrew Pitts by two shots.[11] The final event of the season, the Autopage Mount Edgecombe Trophy, was won by American Bruce Vaughan.[12]
The following table lists official events during the 1993–94 season.[13] [14]
Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) | Winner | OWGR points | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 Nov | Transvaal | 550,000 | Mark McNulty (23) | 16 | |||
28 Nov | Zimbabwe | 300,000 | Tony Johnstone (14) | 22 | |||
12 Dec | Natal | 550,000 | Tony Johnstone (15) | 20 | |||
9 Jan | Cape | 500,000 | Tony Johnstone (16) | 22 | |||
16 Jan | Transvaal | 550,000 | David Frost (4) | 30 | |||
23 Jan | Transvaal | 500,000 | Nick Price (6) | 26 | |||
30 Jan | Transvaal | 500,000 | Chris Davison (1) | 14 | |||
6 Feb | Swaziland | 400,000 | Omar Uresti (1) | 12 | |||
13 Feb | Natal | 500,000 | Bruce Vaughan (1) | 16 |
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.[15]
Position | Player | Prize money (R) | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 297,359 | ||
2 | 189,453 | ||
3 | 160,410 | ||
4 | 156,219 | ||
5 | 135,518 |