2017–18 Sunshine Tour

2017–18 Sunshine Tour season
Duration20 April 2017 (2017-04-20) – 18 March 2018 (2018-03-18)
Number of official events26
Most winsSouth Africa Oliver Bekker (3)
Order of MeritSouth Africa George Coetzee
Players' Player of the YearSouth Africa Oliver Bekker
Rookie of the YearRepublic of Ireland Neil O'Briain

The 2017–18 Sunshine Tour was the 47th 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 2017–18 season.[1]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R) 		Winner[a] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[b] 		Notes
23 Apr Zimbabwe Open Zimbabwe 1,800,000 South Africa J. C. Ritchie (1) 14
30 Apr Zambia Sugar Open Zambia 1,600,000 South Africa Oliver Bekker (5) 14
6 May Investec Royal Swazi Open Swaziland 1,200,000 South Africa Peter Karmis (4) 14
21 May Lombard Insurance Classic Swaziland 1,000,000 South Africa Oliver Bekker (6) 4
4 Jun Mopani Redpath Zambia Open Zambia US$150,000 South Africa Riekus Nortje (1) 14
29 Jul Vodacom Origins of Golf at Highland Gate Mpumalanga 750,000 Scotland Doug McGuigan (7) 7
4 Aug Sun City Challenge North West 750,000 South Africa Peter Karmis (5) 7
11 Aug Sun Carnival City Challenge Gauteng 750,000 South Africa Jbe' Kruger (4) 4
19 Aug Vodacom Origins of Golf at Arabella Western Cape 750,000 South Africa Keith Horne (9) 4
25 Aug Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge KwaZulu-Natal 750,000 South Africa Oliver Bekker (7) 4
2 Sep Vodacom Origins of Golf at Zimbali KwaZulu-Natal 750,000 South Africa Jared Harvey (1) 4
8 Sep Sun Fish River Challenge Eastern Cape 750,000 South Africa M. J. Viljoen (1) 4
15 Sep Sun Boardwalk Challenge Eastern Cape 750,000 South Africa Tyrone Ryan (1) 4
23 Sep Vodacom Origins of Golf at St Francis Eastern Cape 750,000 Scotland Doug McGuigan (8) 4
14 Oct Vodacom Origins of Golf at Sishen Northern Cape 750,000 South Africa Hennie du Plessis (1) 4
27 Oct Sun Sibaya Challenge KwaZulu-Natal 750,000 South Africa Alex Haindl (2) 4
4 Nov Vodacom Origins of Golf Final Western Cape 750,000 South Africa Jaco Prinsloo (1) 4
3 Dec AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open Mauritius €1,000,000 South Africa Dylan Frittelli (1) 17 ASA, EUR
11 Dec Joburg Open Gauteng 16,500,000 India Shubhankar Sharma (n/a) 17 ASA, EUR
14 Jan BMW SA Open Gauteng 15,000,000 England Chris Paisley (n/a) 32 EUR Flagship event
1 Feb Eye of Africa PGA Championship Gauteng 1,500,000 Chile Matías Calderón (1) 14
18 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am Western Cape 5,050,000 South Africa Jaco Ahlers (7) 14 Pro-Am
25 Feb Cape Town Open Western Cape 1,500,000 Wales Rhys Enoch (1) 14
4 Mar Tshwane Open Gauteng 15,000,000 South Africa George Coetzee (9) 19 EUR
7 Mar Steyn City Team Championship Gauteng 1,000,000 South Africa Hennie du Plessis (2) and
South Africa Jean Hugo (18) 		n/a New team event
18 Mar The Tour Championship Gauteng 1,500,000 South Africa Darren Fichardt (16) 14 Tour Championship

Order of Merit

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

Position Player Prize money (R)
1 South Africa George Coetzee 2,937,226
2 South Africa Erik van Rooyen 2,359,847
3 South Africa J. C. Ritchie 2,033,965
4 South Africa Oliver Bekker 1,562,989
5 South Africa Ockie Strydom 1,415,499

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Players' Player of the Year South Africa Oliver Bekker [3]
Rookie of the Year (Bobby Locke Trophy) Republic of Ireland Neil O'Briain [4][5]

See also

Notes

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

References

  1. ^ "2017/18 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  2. ^ "2017/18 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Coetzee, Bekker honoured at Tour awards". Compleat Golfer. 18 March 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2023. Coetzee walked away with the Order of Merit title thanks almost solely to his triumph at the Tshwane Open. The victory over the co-sanctioned field at Pretoria Country Club earned Coetzee R2,377,500 of the R2,937,225 he made this season; that cheque alone would've been enough to finish in first for the season... Bekker earned R1,562,988 this year (fourth on the Order of Merit) and won three times (Zambia Sugar Open; Lombard Insurance Classic; Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge) and left on Sunday with the Golf Writers Award and the Commissioner's Award as well as being named as the Player's Player to cap a successful year.
  4. ^ "2017/18 Rookie of the Year". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Future is bright as O'Donovan wins Sunshine Tour card". Irish Golfer. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2022. Old Conna's Neil O'Briain was the last Irishman to compete regularly on the Tour when claiming the Bobby Locke Award for Rookie of the Year after the season ending Tour Championship in 2018.