2000–01 Sunshine Tour

The 2000–01 Sunshine Tour was the first season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was rebranded. Previously it had been known as the Southern Africa Tour. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region. In its first year, the prize money was over 20% lower than the amount awarded the last year of the Africa Tour (R13.6 Million in 2000–01 vs. R17.5 Million in 1999–2000).

There were 22 official events on the schedule. This was an increase of five from the last year of the Southern Africa tour, with a significant change in the list of tournaments.

There were four tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated or not played:

• Vodacom Series: Mpumalanga
• Vodacom Series: Kwazulu-Natal
• Vodacom Series: Free State
• Royal Swazi Sun Classic (which resumed in 2001)

There were nine tournaments added/restarted for this season:

• Riviera Resort Classic (played in 2000 only)
• Emfuleni Classic (played in 2000 only)
• Observatory Classic (played in 2000 only)
• Cock of the North (first time played since 1985)
• FNB Botswana Open (first time played since 1998)
• Stanbic Zambia Open (first time played since 1998)
• Nashua Nedtel Cellular Masters (first time played since 1999)
• The Tour Championship (new tournament in 2001)
• South African PGA Championship (first time played since 1999)

The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 17 of the 22 official tournaments being held in the country. One event each was held in Botswana, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe and two events were held in Zambia. Two events, the Dunhill Championship and the Mercedes Benz SA Open Championship were co-sanctioned by the European Tour.

The Order of Merit was won by Mark McNulty.

Schedule

The table below shows schedule of events for the 2000–01 Sunshine Tour. As usual, the tour consisted of two distinct parts, commonly referred to as the "Summer Swing" and "Winter Swing". Tournaments held during the Summer Swing generally had much higher prize funds, attracted stronger fields, and were the only tournaments on the tour to carry world ranking points.

Prize funds shown did not count directly towards the Order of Merit. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of official money Sunshine Tour events he had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Sunshine Tour members.

Year	Dates	Tournament	Venue (RSA unless stated)	Prize fund (R)	Winner	Notes	Ref
2000	16–18 Mar	Cock of the North	Ndola Golf Club, Zambia	100,000	Titch Moore (1)	Returning tournament after hiatus from 1986–99	[1]
2000	23–26 Mar	Stanbic Zambia Open	Lusaka Golf Club, Zambia	320,000	James Loughnane	Returning tournament after hiatus in 1999	[2]
2000	30 Mar – 1 Apr	FNB Botswana Open	Gaborone Golf Club, Botswana	90,000	Richard Kaplan (4)	Returning tournament after hiatus in 1999	[3]
2000	12–14 Apr	Lombard Tyres Classic	Krugersdorp Golf Club	75,000	Brett Liddle (5)	Last year of tournament	[4]
2000	5–7 May	Vodacom Series: Gauteng	Silver Lakes Golf Club	100,000	Nico van Rensburg (2)	Last year of tournament	[5]
2000	11–13 May	Pietersburg Classic	Pietersburg Golf Club	75,000	Marc Cayeux (3)		[6]
2000	26–28 May	Vodacom Series: Eastern Cape	East London Golf Club	100,000	Ryan Reid	Last year of tournament	[7]
2000	15–17 Sep	Emfuleni Classic	Emfuleni Golf Club	100,000	Des Terblanche (5)	New tournament, only played in 2000	[8]
2000	29 Sep – 1 Oct	Bearing Man Highveld Classic	Witbank Golf Club	100,000	Sean Pappas (5)		[9]
2000	13–15 Oct	Observatory Classic	Observatory Golf Club	100,000	Roger Wessels (8)	New tournament, only played in 2000	[10]
2000	27–29 Oct	Western Cape Classic	Rondebosch Golf Club	100,000	Jean Hugo (2)		[11]
2000	10–12 Nov	Platinum Classic	Mooi Nooi Golf Club	200,000	Desvonde Botes (9)		[12]
2000	16–17 Nov	Riviera Resort Classic	Riviera Resort Country Club	100,000	Ulrich van den Berg (1)	New tournament, only played in 2000	[13]
2000	23–26 Nov	CABS Old Mutual Zimbabwe Open	Royal Harare Golf Club, Zimbabwe	400,000	Mark McNulty (30)		[14]
2000	7–10 Dec	Vodacom Players Championship	Royal Cape Golf Club	1,000,000	Trevor Immelman (1)		[15]
2001	11–14 Jan	Nashua Nedtel Cellular Masters	Wild Coast Sun Country Club	500,000	Mark McNulty (31)	Returning tournament after hiatus in 2000	[16]
2001	18–21 Jan	Alfred Dunhill Championship	Houghton Golf Club	3,250,000	Adam Scott	Co-sanctioned with European Tour	[17]
2001	25–28 Jan	Mercedes Benz SA Open Championship	East London Golf Club	3,800,000	Mark McNulty (32)	Co-sanctioned with European Tour	[18]
2001	1–4 Feb	Dimension Data Better Ball	Gary Player Country Club	110,000	Ulrich van den Berg	Unofficial tournament	[19]
2001	1–4 Feb	Dimension Data Pro-Am	Gary Player Country Club	1,000,000	Darren Clarke		[20]
2001	8–11 Feb	South African PGA Championship	Woodhill Country Club	500,000	Deane Pappas (1)	Returning tournament after hiatus in 2000	[21]
2001	15–18 Feb	Investec Royal Swazi Sun Open	Royal Swazi Sun Country Club, Swaziland	230,000	Bradford Vaughan (3)		[22]
2001	22–25 Feb	The Tour Championship	Leopard Creek Country Club	1,250,000	Darren Fichardt (2)	New tournament	[23]

Order of Merit

Rank	Player[24]	Country	Events	Prize money (R)
1	Mark McNulty	Zimbabwe	6	1,603,481.36
2	Bradford Vaughan	South Africa	18	686,414.88
3	Roger Wessels	South Africa	8	632,383.40
4	Hennie Otto	South Africa	12	620,210.65
5	Trevor Immelman	South Africa	10	619,765.87

References

External links

• Official website