1996–97 Southern Africa Tour

1996–97 Southern Africa Tour season
Duration11 April 1996 (1996-04-11) – 2 March 1997 (1997-03-02)
Number of official events25
Most winsZimbabwe Mark McNulty (3)
Order of MeritZimbabwe Nick Price

The 1996–97 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1996–97 FNB Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

It was the fifth season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with First National Bank, that began in 1992.[1]

Changes for 1996–97

The South African Open became co-sanctioned with the European Tour for the first time, benefitting from an increased purse and world ranking points.[2]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1996–97 season.[3]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R) 		Winner[a] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[b] 		Notes
13 Apr Kalahari Classic Northern Cape 70,000 South Africa Brett Liddle (3) n/a
21 Apr Newcastle Classic KwaZulu-Natal 60,000 United States John Nelson (1) n/a
18 May FNB Pro Series (Eastern Cape) Eastern Cape 100,000 South Africa Ian Hutchings (1) n/a
6 Jun FNB Pro Series (Swaziland) Swaziland 100,000 South Africa Chris Williams (4) n/a
6 Jul Bosveld Classic Limpopo 70,000 South Africa James Kingston (3) n/a
25 Aug Platinum Classic North West 100,000 South Africa Mark Murless (1) n/a
15 Sep Bearing Man Highveld Classic Mpumalanga 70,000 South Africa Des Terblanche (2) n/a
28 Sep IDC Development Tourism Classic Mpumalanga 100,000 South Africa Justin Hobday (3) n/a
5 Oct FNB Pro Series (Western Cape) Western Cape 100,000 South Africa Clinton Whitelaw (2) n/a
12 Oct FNB Pro Series (Free State) Free State 100,000 South Africa Clinton Whitelaw (3) n/a
19 Oct FNB Pro Series (Botswana) Botswana 100,000 South Africa Des Terblanche (3) n/a
27 Oct FNB Pro Series (Namibia) Namibia 100,000 South Africa Kevin Stone (2) n/a
1 Nov Trustbank Gauteng Classic Gauteng 100,000 South Africa Ashley Roestoff (3) n/a New tournament
10 Nov Mycom Mafunyane Trophy Limpopo 200,000 South Africa Roger Wessels (3) n/a
15 Nov Lombard Tyres Classic Gauteng 100,000 South Africa Sean Pappas (2) n/a
30 Nov Leopard Rock Classic Zimbabwe 100,000 South Africa Chris Williams (4) n/a New tournament
8 Dec Zimbabwe Open Zimbabwe 400,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (25) 16
15 Dec Zambia Open Zambia 150,000 South Africa Desvonde Botes (1) n/a New to Southern Africa Tour
19 Jan San Lameer South African Masters KwaZulu-Natal 750,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (26) 14
26 Jan Nashua Wild Coast Sun Challenge Western Cape 750,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (27) 14
2 Feb FNB Players Championship KwaZulu-Natal 750,000 South Africa Warren Schutte (1) 16
9 Feb South African Open Gauteng £500,000 Fiji Vijay Singh (n/a) 34 EUR
16 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am Gauteng £400,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (8) 26 EUR Pro-Am
23 Feb Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship Gauteng £300,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (9) 24 EUR
2 Mar Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Open Swaziland 500,000 South Africa Warrick Druian (1) 12

Unofficial events

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

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R) 		Winner OWGR
points 		Notes
1 Dec Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge North West US$2,500,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 44 Limited-field event

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[4]

Position Player Prize money (R)
1 Zimbabwe Nick Price 1,223,027
2 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty 619,427
3 South Africa Retief Goosen 301,304
4 South Africa Nico van Rensburg 269,289
5 South Africa Wayne Westner 255,811

Notes

  1. ^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Southern Africa Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Southern Africa Tour members.
  2. ^ EUR − European Tour.

References

  1. ^ Berkovitz, Anton; Samson, Andrew (1993). South Africa and international sports factfinder. D. Nelson. p. 96. ISBN 1868061019. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Worry over card games". Evening Telegraph. Derby, United Kingdom. 5 February 1997. p. 50. Retrieved 8 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "1996/97 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  4. ^ "1996/97 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.