1997–98 Southern Africa Tour

The 1997–98 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1997–98 Vodacom Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

1997–98 Southern Africa Tour season
Duration10 April 1997 (1997-04-10) – 8 March 1998 (1998-03-08)
Number of official events24
Most wins Desvonde Botes (3)
Order of Merit Mark McNulty

Vodacom title sponsorship

In June 1997, it was announced that the tour had signed a title sponsorship agreement with Vodacom, being renamed as the Vodacom Tour. The agreement was reported to be worth R 100,000,000 over five years.[1]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997–98 season.[2]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)		 Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]		 Notes
12 AprKalahari ClassicNorthern Cape70,000 Sean Pappas (3)n/a
27 JunVodacom Series (Eastern Cape)Eastern Cape150,000 Des Terblanche (4)n/aNew tournament series
5 JulBosveld ClassicLimpopo100,000 Desvonde Botes (2)n/a
12 JulVodacom Series (Mpumalanga)Mpumalanga150,000 Robbie Stewart (1)n/a
26 JulTrustbank Gauteng ClassicGauteng150,000 Bradford Vaughan (1)n/a
9 AugVodacom Series (Gauteng)Gauteng150,000 John Nelson (1)n/a
30 AugFNB Botswana OpenBotswana150,000 Nasho Kamungeremu (1)n/aNew tournament
13 SepFNB Namibia OpenNamibia150,000 Wallie Coetsee (1)n/aNew tournament
21 SepBearing Man Highveld ClassicMpumalanga100,000 Darren Fichardt (1)n/a
11 OctVodacom Series (Free State)Free State150,000 Dean van Staden (1)n/a
18 OctVodacom Series (Western Cape)Western Cape150,000 Desvonde Botes (3)n/a
25 OctVodacom Series (KwaZulu-Natal)KwaZulu-Natal150,000 Grant Muller (1)n/a
1 NovLombard Tyres ClassicGauteng125,000 Andrew McLardy (1)n/a
16 NovLeopard Rock ClassicZimbabwe150,000 Adilson da Silva (1)n/a
23 NovZambia OpenZambia250,000 James Loughnane (1)n/a
30 NovZimbabwe OpenZimbabwe450,000 Nick Price (10)20
14 DecMafunyane TrophyLimpopo150,000 Kevin Stone (3)n/a
17 JanPlatinum ClassicNorth West100,000 Desvonde Botes (4)n/a
1 FebNashua Wild Coast Sun ChallengeWestern Cape500,000 Adilson da Silva (2)14
8 FebSouth African OpenKwaZulu-Natal£450,000 Ernie Els (10)30EUR
15 FebAlfred Dunhill South African PGA ChampionshipGauteng£400,000 Tony Johnstone (17)36EUR
22 FebDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,900,000 Nick Price (11)18Pro-Am
28 FebStenham Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland500,000 Paul Friedlander (2)12
8 MarVodacom Players ChampionshipGauteng1,000,000 Mark McNulty (28)14

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
7 Dec Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge North West US$2,500,000 Nick Price 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.[3]

PositionPlayerPrize money (R)
1 Mark McNulty589,053
2 Tony Johnstone553,327
3 Scott Dunlap368,378
4 Marco Gortana289,062
5 Nic Henning277,552

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. "1997/98 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  3. "1997/98 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.