2001–02 Sunshine Tour

The 2001–02 Sunshine Tour was the second season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was rebranded in 2000. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region.

2001–02 Sunshine Tour season
Duration8 March 2001 (2001-03-08) – 17 February 2002 (2002-02-17)
Number of official events22
Most wins2:
James Kingston
Order of Merit Tim Clark

There were 22 official events on the schedule. This was an decrease of one from the previous year, but there was a significant change in the list of tournaments.

There were eight tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated or not played:

  • Riviera Resort Classic
  • Vodacom Series: Eastern Cape
  • Vodacom Series: Gauteng
  • Emfuleni Classic
  • Ernie Els Invitational
  • Observatory Classic
  • Lombard Tyres Classic
  • Royal Swazi Sun Open (which resumed in 2003)

There were seven tournaments added for this season:

  • Goldfields Powerade Classic (played in 2001 only)
  • Blomfontein Classic (first time played since 1995; not played after this season)
  • Randfontein Classic (played in 2001 only)
  • Atlantic Beach Classic (played in 2001 only)
  • Graceland Challenge (played in 2001 only)
  • Vodacom Trophy (played one more time, as the Vodacom Golf Classic in 2002)
  • Royal Swazi Sun Classic (played 2001–04)

The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 17 of the 22 official tournaments being held in the country. One event each was held in Botswana, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe and two in Zambia. Two events, the Dunhill Championship and the South African Airways Open were co-sanctioned by the European Tour.

The Order of Merit was won by Tim Clark.

Schedule

The table below shows schedule of events for the 2001–02 Sunshine 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.

Prize funds shown did 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 he had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Sunshine Tour members.

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)		 Winner OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 1]		 Notes Ref.
11 MarStanbic Zambia OpenZambia275,000 Mark Foster (1)6CHA[1]
18 MarCock of The NorthZambia100,000 Sean Farrell (1)n/a[2]
31 MarFNB Botswana OpenBotswana125,000 Marc Cayeux (4)n/a[3]
22 AprRoyal Swazi Sun ClassicSwaziland100,000 Titch Moore (2)n/a[4]
12 MayPietersburg Industrelek ClassicLimpopo100,000 Ryan Reid (2)n/a[5]
9 SepGoldfields Powerade ClassicFree State100,000 Callie Swart (2)n/aNew tournament[6]
13 SepBloemfontein ClassicFree State100,000 André Cruse (1)n/a[7]
28 SepRandfontein ClassicGauteng100,000 James Kingston (5)n/aNew tournament[8]
7 OctBearing Man Highveld ClassicMpumalanga100,000 Justin Hobday (11)n/a[9]
12 OctAtlantic Beach ClassicWestern Cape100,000 James Kingston (6)n/aNew tournament[10]
20 OctWestern Cape ClassicWestern Cape100,000 Lindani Ndwandwe (1)n/a[11]
27 OctVodacom TrophyGauteng100,000 Ulrich van den Berg (2)n/aNew tournament[12]
10 NovGraceland ChallengeMpumalanga100,000 Warren Abery (2)n/aNew tournament[13]
18 NovPlatinum ClassicNorth West225,000 Roger Wessels (9)n/a[14]
25 NovCABS/Old Mutual Zimbabwe OpenZimbabwe450,000 Darren Fichardt (3)12[15]
9 DecVodacom Players ChampionshipWestern Cape800,000 Ernie Els (15)20[16]
13 JanBell's South African OpenKwaZulu-Natal4,250,000 Tim Clark (1)32EURFlagship event[17]
20 JanDunhill ChampionshipGauteng3,500,000 Justin Rose (1)22EUR[18]
27 JanTelkom PGA ChampionshipGauteng475,000 Chris Williams (6)12[19]
3 FebDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,250,000 Retief Goosen (7)26[20]
10 FebNashua MastersEastern Cape500,000 Justin Rose (2)12[21]
17 FebThe Tour ChampionshipMpumalanga1,100,000 Nicholas Lawrence (1)12Tour Championship[22]

Order of Merit
RankPlayerEventsPrize money (R)
1 Tim Clark71,669,901
2 Justin Rose41,476,006
3 Retief Goosen41,364,977
4 Martin Maritz81,042,806
5 James Kingston10706,234

Source:[23]

Notes
  1. CHA − Challenge Tour; EUR − European Tour.

References
  1. Stanbic Zambia Open results
  2. Cock Of The North results
  3. FNB Botswana Open results
  4. Royal Swazi Sun Classic results
  5. Pietersburg Industrelek Classic results
  6. Goldfields Powerade Classic results
  7. Bloemfontein Classic results
  8. Randfontein Classic results
  9. Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
  10. Atlantic Beach Classic results
  11. Western Cape Classic results
  12. Vodacom Trophy results
  13. Graceland Challenge results
  14. Platinum Classic results
  15. CABS/Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open results
  16. Vodacom Players Championship results
  17. Bell's South African Open Championship results
  18. Dunhill Championship results
  19. Telkom PGA Championship results
  20. Dimension Data Pro-Am results
  21. Nashua Masters results
  22. The Tour Championship results
  23. "2001/2002 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2002-02-17. Retrieved 2014-07-19.
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