2011 Sunshine Tour

The 2011 Sunshine Tour is the 12th season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was relaunched in 2000, and the 5th since the tour switched a calendar based season in 2007. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region.

The tour is based predominantly in South Africa with other events being held in neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Zambia and Namibia.

Schedule

The table below shows schedule of events for the 2011 Sunshine Tour season.[1] As usual, the tour consists of two distinct parts, commonly referred to as the "Summer Swing" and the "Winter Swing". Tournaments held during the Summer Swing generally have much higher prize funds, attract stronger fields, and are the only tournaments on the tour to carry world ranking points, with some events being co-sanctioned with the European Tour. Since the tour switched to a calendar based season, this part of the tour has been split in two, with some events being held at the start of the year, and the remainder in December.

Prize funds shown do not count directly towards the Order of Merit. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of official money Sunshine Tour events won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Sunshine Tour members.

Dates Tournament Location
(RSA unless stated)		 Prize fund Winner OWGR
points		 Notes
5–9 Jan Africa Open East London, Eastern Cape €1,000,000 Louis Oosthuizen (6) 22 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
13–16 Jan Joburg Open Johannesburg, Gauteng €1,300,000 Charl Schwartzel (5) 20 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
27–30 Jan Africom Zimbabwe Open Harare, Zimbabwe R1,250,000 Theunis Spangenberg (1) 14 Shortened to 54 holes due to weather
17–20 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am George, Western Cape R3,000,000 Hennie Otto (10) 14
24–27 Feb Telkom PGA Championship Johannesburg, Gauteng R3,250,000 George Coetzee (4) 14
17–20 Mar MTC Namibia PGA Championship Windhoek, Namibia R1,200,000 J. G. Claassen (1) 14
4–7 May Investec Royal Swazi Open Swaziland R750,000 Justin Walters (2) 14
12–14 May Nashua Golf Challenge Sun City, North West R500,000 Adilson da Silva (8) n/a
25–27 May Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Pretoria) Pretoria, Gauteng R540,000 Jean Hugo (11) n/a
3–5 Jun Lombard Insurance Classic Swaziland R850,000 Justin Harding (2) n/a
8–10 Jun Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Arabella) Western Cape R540,000 Chris Swanepoel (2) n/a
27–29 Jul Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Simola) Eastern Cape R540,000 Jean Hugo (12) n/a
10–12 Aug Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Wild Coast) Kwazulu-Natal R540,000 Darren Fichardt (11) n/a
31 Aug–2 Sep Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Sishen) Northern Cape R540,000 Adilson da Silva (9) n/a
7–9 Sep Telkom PGA Pro-Am Gauteng R500,000 Jaco van Zyl (10) n/a
15–17 Sep Northern Cape Classic Northern Cape R600,000 Oliver Bekker (1) n/a New tournament
21–23 Sep Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Final Limpopo R600,000 Jean Hugo (13) n/a
6–8 Oct Platinum Classic North West R500,000 Hennie Otto (11) n/a
12–15 Oct KCM Zambia Open Chingola, Zambia R1,200,000 Doug McGuigan (5) 14
20–22 Oct Suncoast Classic Kwazulu-Natal R500,000 Darren Fichardt (12) n/a
28–30 Oct BMG Classic Johannesburg, Gauteng R600,000 James Kamte (4) n/a
3–6 Nov Nashua Masters Kwazulu-Natal R1,200,000 Shaun Norris (2) 14
8–10 Nov Nedbank Affinity Cup North West R600,000 Warren Abery (8) n/a
17–20 Nov Alfred Dunhill Championship Malelane €1,000,000 Garth Mulroy (3) 20 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
24–27 Nov SA Open Championship Ekurhuleni €1,000,000 Hennie Otto (12) 32 Flagship event
Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
1–4 Dec Nedbank Golf Challenge Sun City, North West US$5,000,000 Lee Westwood (n/a) 38

Order of Merit
RankPlayer[2]CountryEventsPrize money (R)
1Garth Mulroy South Africa63,464,463
2Hennie Otto South Africa72,806,214
3George Coetzee South Africa91,586,587
4Thomas Aiken South Africa61,569,896
5Jaco van Zyl South Africa81,231,134

Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen were ineligible for the Order of Merit having only played in three and one tournaments, respectively, during the season. Schwartzel earned R2,211,553 and Oosthuizen earned R1,394,800 from those events.

References
  1. "2011 Sunshine Tour schedule". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 10 November 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  2. "2011 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
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