1998–99 Southern Africa Tour

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.

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

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]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)
Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points
Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]
Notes
18 AprVodacom Series (Western Cape)Western Cape150,000Scotland Alan McLean (1)n/a
25 AprKalahari ClassicNorthern Cape75,000South Africa Andrew McLardy (2)n/a
2 MayPietersburg ClassicLimpopo100,000South Africa Desvonde Botes (5)n/aNew tournament
16 MayVodacom Series (Eastern Cape)Eastern Cape150,000South Africa Sammy Daniels (1)n/a
31 MayVodacom Series (KwaZulu-Natal)KwaZulu-Natal150,000South Africa Keith Horne (1)n/a
12 JulVodacom Series (Mpumalanga)Mpumalanga150,000South Africa Callie Swart (1)n/a
8 AugFish River Sun Pro-AmEastern Cape200,000South Africa Ashley Roestoff (4)n/aPro-Am
15 AugRoyal Swazi Sun ClassicSwaziland150,000South Africa Justin Hobday (4)n/aNew tournament
4 SepAbsa Bank Corporate ChallengeGauteng150,000South Africa Warren Abery (1)n/aNew tournament
13 SepBearing Man Highveld ClassicMpumalanga100,000South Africa Wayne Bradley (1)n/a
19 SepVodacom Series (Free State)Free State150,000South Africa Gary Matthews (1)n/a
26 SepFNB Botswana OpenBotswana150,000South Africa Justin Hobday (5)n/a
4 OctPhalaborwa Mafunyane TrophyLimpopo150,000South Africa Sammy Daniels (2)n/a
16 OctVodacom Series (Gauteng)Gauteng150,000South Africa Brenden Pappas (1)n/a
25 OctFNB Namibia OpenNamibia150,000South Africa Ashley Roestoff (5)n/a
8 NovPlatinum ClassicNorth West250,000South Africa Bobby Lincoln (4)n/a
22 NovZambia OpenZambia400,000Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux (1)n/a
29 NovZimbabwe OpenZimbabwe450,000Zimbabwe Nick Price (12)16
17 JanAlfred Dunhill South African PGA ChampionshipGauteng£400,000South Africa Ernie Els (11)24EUR
24 JanMercedes-Benz - Vodacom South African OpenWestern Cape6,000,000South Africa David Frost (5)34EURFlagship event
31 JanVodacom Players ChampionshipKwaZulu-Natal100,000England Chris Davison (2)12
7 FebDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,900,000United States Scott Dunlap (2)14Pro-Am
14 FebSouth African MastersFree State1,000,000South Africa Desvonde Botes (6)12
21 FebStenham Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland1,000,000Zimbabwe 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.[4]

PositionPlayerPrize money (R)
1South Africa David Frost1,189,762
2United States Scott Dunlap885,792
3South Africa Richard Kaplan525,151
4South Africa Desvonde Botes410,598
5South Africa Ashley Roestoff367,726

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 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.