1998–99 Southern Africa Tour

1998–99 Southern Africa Tour season
Duration16 April 1998 (1998-04-16) – 21 February 1999 (1999-02-21)
Number of official events24
Most winsSouth Africa Desvonde Botes (2)
Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux (2)
South Africa Sammy Daniels (2)
South Africa Justin Hobday (2)
South Africa Ashley Roestoff (2)
Order of MeritSouth Africa David Frost

The 1998–99 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1998–99 Vodacom Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th 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 Vodacom, that was announced in June 1997.[1]

Changes for 1998–99

The season marked the first year in which the South African Open was granted "flagship event" status by the Official World Golf Ranking, awarding a minimum of 32 points to the winner.[2]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1998–99 season.[3][4]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R) 		Winner[a] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[b] 		Notes
18 Apr Vodacom Series (Western Cape) Western Cape 165,000 Scotland Alan McLean (1) n/a
25 Apr Kalahari Classic Northern Cape 75,000 South Africa Andrew McLardy (2) n/a
2 May Pietersburg Classic Limpopo 100,000 South Africa Desvonde Botes (5) n/a New tournament
16 May Vodacom Series (Eastern Cape) Eastern Cape 165,000 South Africa Sammy Daniels (1) n/a
31 May Vodacom Series (KwaZulu-Natal) KwaZulu-Natal 165,000 South Africa Keith Horne (1) n/a
12 Jul Vodacom Series (Mpumalanga) Mpumalanga 165,000 South Africa Callie Swart (1) n/a
8 Aug Fish River Sun Pro-Am Eastern Cape 200,000 South Africa Ashley Roestoff (4) n/a Pro-Am
15 Aug Royal Swazi Sun Classic Swaziland 150,000 South Africa Justin Hobday (4) n/a New tournament
4 Sep Absa Bank Corporate Challenge Gauteng 150,000 South Africa Warren Abery (1) n/a New tournament
13 Sep Bearing Man Highveld Classic Mpumalanga 100,000 South Africa Wayne Bradley (1) n/a
19 Sep Vodacom Series (Free State) Free State 165,000 South Africa Gary Matthews (1) n/a
26 Sep FNB Botswana Open Botswana 150,000 South Africa Justin Hobday (5) n/a
4 Oct Phalaborwa Mafunyane Trophy Limpopo 175,000 South Africa Sammy Daniels (2) n/a
16 Oct Vodacom Series (Gauteng) Gauteng 165,000 South Africa Brenden Pappas (1) n/a
25 Oct FNB Namibia Open Namibia 150,000 South Africa Ashley Roestoff (5) n/a
8 Nov Platinum Classic North West 100,000 South Africa Bobby Lincoln (4) n/a
22 Nov Zambia Open Zambia 400,000 Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux (1) n/a
29 Nov Zimbabwe Open Zimbabwe 450,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (12) 16
17 Jan Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship Gauteng £400,000 South Africa Ernie Els (11) 24 EUR
24 Jan Mercedes-Benz - Vodacom South African Open Western Cape US$1,000,000 South Africa David Frost (5) 34 EUR Flagship event
31 Jan Vodacom Players Championship KwaZulu-Natal 1,000,000 England Chris Davison (2) 12
7 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am North West 2,000,000 United States Scott Dunlap (2) 14 Pro-Am
14 Feb South African Masters Free State 600,000 South Africa Desvonde Botes (6) 12
21 Feb Stenham Royal Swazi Sun Open Swaziland 1,000,000 Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux (2) 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
6 Dec Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge North West US$2,500,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price 48 Limited-field event

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[5]

Position Player Prize money (R)
1 South Africa David Frost 1,189,762
2 United States Scott Dunlap 885,792
3 South Africa Richard Kaplan 525,151
4 South Africa Desvonde Botes 410,598
5 South Africa Ashley Roestoff 367,726

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. ^ "Vodacom boosts PGA tour, annoys competitor". Mail & Guardian. Johannesburg, South Africa. 13 June 1997. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  2. ^ "How ranking evolved". Official World Golf Ranking. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2023. 1999: The Southern African Tour's South African Open was given "Flagship" status with 32 first place points
  3. ^ "1998/99 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  4. ^ "1998/99 Vodacom Tour". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 15 August 2000. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  5. ^ "1998/99 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.