2008 Sunshine Tour Explained

Year:2008
Tour:Sunshine Tour
Regular Season:
No Of Events:30
Most Wins: Richard Sterne (3)
Honor1:Order of Merit
Honoree1: Richard Sterne
Honor2:Players' Player of the Year
Honor3:Rookie of the Year
Honoree3: Louis Moolman
Prevseason:2007
Nextseason:2009

The 2008 Sunshine Tour was the 38th season of the Sunshine Tour (formerly the Southern Africa Tour), the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2008 season.[1]

DateTournamentLocationPurse
(R)
WinnerOWGR
points
Other
tours
Notes
13 JanJoburg OpenGauteng€1,100,000 Richard Sterne (3)20EUR
27 JanDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,800,000 James Kamte (2)14Pro-Am
3 FebNashua MastersEastern Cape1,200,000 Marc Cayeux (9)14
10 FebAfrica OpenEastern Cape1,200,000 Shaun Norris (1)14New tournament
17 FebVodacom ChampionshipGauteng2,400,000 James Kingston (8)14
24 FebTelkom PGA ChampionshipGauteng2,500,000 Louis Oosthuizen (5)14
2 MarMount Edgecombe TrophyKwaZulu-Natal500,000 Mark Murless (4)n/a
30 MarChainama Hills Zambia OpenZambia750,000 Tyrone Ferreira (1)n/a
4 AprVodacom Origins of Golf at BloemfonteinFree State440,000 Dion Fourie (2)n/a
25 AprVodacom Origins of Golf at PretoriaGauteng440,000 Tyrone van Aswegen (1)n/a
10 MaySamsung Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland700,000 Jean Hugo (6)n/a
17 MayNashua Golf ChallengeNorth West500,000 Keith Horne (3)n/a
30 MayVodacom Origins of Golf at SelborneKwaZulu-Natal440,000 Jean Hugo (7)n/a
8 JunLombard Insurance ClassicSwaziland400,000 Merrick Bremner (1)n/a
23 AugSAA Pro-Am InvitationalWestern Cape500,000 George Coetzee (2)n/a
29 AugVodacom Origins of Golf at ArabellaWestern Cape440,000 Garth Mulroy (1)n/a
5 SepTelkom PGA Pro-AmGauteng400,000 Merrick Bremner (2)n/a
13 SepSuncoast ClassicKwaZulu-Natal500,000 Jake Roos (1)n/a
19 SepVodacom Origins of Golf at HumewoodEastern Cape440,000 George Coetzee (3)n/a
4 OctSeekers Travel Pro-AmGauteng440,000 Trevor Fisher Jnr (3)n/a
12 OctBMG ClassicGauteng500,000 Doug McGuigan (3)n/aNew tournament
19 OctMetmar Highveld ClassicMpumalanga600,000 James Kamte (3)n/a
24 OctVodacom Origins of Golf FinalWestern Cape440,000 Jaco van Zyl (2)n/a
1 NovPlatinum ClassicNorth West705,000 Thomas Aiken (7)n/a
9 NovMTC Namibia PGA ChampionshipNamibia1,000,000 Tongoona Charamba (2)n/a
27 NovCoca-Cola Charity ChampionshipWestern Cape550,000 Garth Mulroy (2)n/a
3 DecNedbank Affinity CupNorth West550,000 Tyrone van Aswegen (2)n/a
7 DecNedbank Golf ChallengeNorth WestUS$4,385,000 Henrik Stenson (n/a)34Limited-field event
14 DecAlfred Dunhill ChampionshipMpumalanga€1,000,000 Richard Sterne (4)24EUR
21 DecSouth African Open ChampionshipWestern Cape€1,000,000 Richard Sterne (5)40EURFlagship event

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[2] [3]

PositionPlayerPrize money (R)
1 5,999,265
2 1,442,351
3 967,378
4 885,056
5 775,903

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2008 Tournament schedule . Sunshine Tour . 8 September 2023.
  2. Web site: 2008 Order of Merit . Sunshine Tour . 19 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230419163148/https://sst.ocs-sport.com/tic/tmoom.cgi?oom=FT~imp=n~lspos=n~dc=N~bdlink=Y~season=208S~style=00~groupties=Y~pr=N~textout=N~bordersize=1~fontsize=*~winfocus=Y~ . 19 April 2023.
  3. Web site: Sterne proves he's a true diamond . Independent Online . Grant . Winter . 22 December 2008 . 19 April 2023 . That win at Leopard Creek, incidentally, sealed 2008 Sunshine Order of Merit honours for him with earnings of just over R3.8-million. Now he's added a further R2.15-million, bringing his seasons earnings to almost R6-million..
  4. Web site: Louis Moolman . European Tour . 9 September 2023 . The same year, he won the Sunshine Tour Rookie of the Year award following ten top 20 finishes..