1988–89 Southern Africa Tour

With three wins and three runner-up finishes in the opening seven tournaments, the first half of the season belonged to Tony Johnstone. At the first event, the Minolta Copiers Match Play, he defeated Wayne Westner by two in the stroke play final.[1] Johnstone won the following week at the Bloemfontein Classic,[2] and finished as runner-up in both the Safmarine South African Masters, where John Bland was victorious,[3] and the Goodyear Classic, finishing one stroke behind Trevor Dodds.[4] The next event, the Dewar's White Label Trophy, developed into a "two-man battle" between Johnstone and Bland, a birdie at the 72nd hole securing a one stroke victory for Bland.[5] Despite his third runner-up finish in succession, Johnstone had established a big lead on the money list.[6] Chris Williams won the sixth tournament, ICL International.[7] However, the next week Johnstone won his third title of the season, defeating Williams in a playoff at the Lexington PGA Championship.[8]

Americans dominated the remainder of the season. In late January, Stuart Smith won the Palabora Classic.[9] The following week at the Protea Assurance South African Open, Tom Lehman led by four stokes entering the final round.[10] However, Fred Wadsworth outplayed Lehman with a 68 on Sunday to win by one.[11] Two smaller events, the AECI Charity Classic and the Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic, were won by Jeff Hawkes, with Johnstone recording his fourth runner-up finish of the season. The final event of the season, the Trustbank Tournament of Champions, was won by another American, Jay Townsend.[12][13][14]

The following table lists official events during the 1988–89 season.[15][13][14]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (R)	Winner[lower-alpha 1]	OWGR points	Notes
13 Nov	Minolta Copiers Match Play	Transvaal	250,000	Tony Johnstone (9)	8
19 Nov	Bloemfontein Classic	Orange Free State	250,000	Tony Johnstone (10)	8
26 Nov	Safmarine South African Masters	Cape	250,000	John Bland (12)	8
18 Dec	Goodyear Classic	Cape	250,000	Trevor Dodds (1)	8
7 Jan	Dewar's White Label Trophy	Natal	250,000	John Bland (13)	8	New tournament
14 Jan	ICL International	Transvaal	250,000	Chris Williams (2)	8
21 Jan	Lexington PGA Championship	Transvaal	250,000	Tony Johnstone (11)	8
28 Jan	Palabora Classic	Transvaal	250,000	Stuart Smith (1)	8
4 Feb	Protea Assurance South African Open	Transvaal	300,000	Fred Wadsworth (1)	16
10 Feb	AECI Charity Classic	Transvaal	250,000	Jeff Hawkes (2)	6
19 Feb	Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic	Swaziland	250,000	Jeff Hawkes (3)	6
25 Feb	Trustbank Tournament of Champions	Transvaal	250,000	Jay Townsend (1)	8	Tour Championship

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
4 Dec	Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge	Transvaal	US$1,500,000	Fulton Allem	22	Limited-field event

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[16]

Position	Player	Prize money (R)
1	Tony Johnstone	254,951
2	John Bland	143,449
3	Jeff Hawkes	141,678
4	Wayne Westner	103,467
5	Chris Williams	100,085

• Official website