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1999–2000 Southern Africa Tour

1999–2000 Southern Africa Tour season
Duration14 April 1999 (1999-04-14) – 6 February 2000 (2000-02-06)
Number of official events17
Most winsSouth Africa Bobby Lincoln (2)
South Africa Hennie Otto (2)
Order of MeritSouth Africa Darren Fichardt
Rookie of the YearSouth Africa Jean Hugo

The 1999–2000 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1999–2000 Vodacom Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

It was the third season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Vodacom, that was announced in June 1997.[1]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1999–2000 season.[2][3]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)
Winner[a] OWGR
points
Other
tours[b]
Notes
17 Apr Lombard Tyres Classic Gauteng 125,000 South Africa Brett Liddle (4) n/a
23 Apr Vodacom Series (Gauteng) Gauteng 200,000 South Africa Nico van Rensburg (1) n/a
8 May Pietersburg Classic Limpopo 100,000 South Africa Hennie Otto (1) n/a
15 May Vodacom Series (Eastern Cape) Eastern Cape 200,000 South Africa Ashley Roestoff (6) n/a
12 Jun Vodacom Series (KwaZulu-Natal) KwaZulu-Natal 200,000 South Africa Hennie Otto (2) n/a
14 Aug Vodacom Series (Mpumalanga) Mpumalanga 200,000 South Africa André Cruse (1) n/a
12 Sep Bearing Man Highveld Classic Mpumalanga 100,000 South Africa Bobby Lincoln (5) n/a
25 Sep Vodacom Series (Free State) Free State 200,000 South Africa Desvonde Botes (7) n/a
30 Sep Royal Swazi Sun Classic Swaziland 200,000 South Africa Bradford Vaughan (2) n/a
10 Oct Vodacom Series (Western Cape) Western Cape 200,000 South Africa Sean Ludgater (1) n/a
31 Oct Platinum Classic North West 200,000 South Africa Bobby Lincoln (6) n/a
28 Nov Zimbabwe Open Zimbabwe 475,000 South Africa Jean Hugo (1) 12
12 Dec Vodacom Players Championship Western Cape 2,000,000 South Africa Nic Henning (1) 20
16 Jan Alfred Dunhill Championship Mpumalanga £500,000 England Anthony Wall (n/a) 12 EUR New tournament
23 Jan Mercedes-Benz South African Open Gauteng US$1,000,000 Sweden Mathias Grönberg (n/a) 32 EUR Flagship event
30 Jan Dimension Data Pro-Am North West 2,000,000 England Lee Westwood (n/a) 22 Pro-Am
6 Feb Stenham Swazi Open Swaziland 1,000,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (29) 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
22 Jul Wild Coast Sun Pro-Am Eastern Cape 75,000 South Africa James Kingston n/a
17 Aug PGA's Cup Gauteng 80,000 South Africa Darren Fichardt
South Africa Paul McErlean
n/a Title shared
27 Aug Royal Swazi Sun Pro-Am Swaziland 75,000 South Africa Justin Hobday n/a
5 Dec Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge North West US$2,500,000 South Africa Ernie Els 40 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][5]

Position Player Prize money (R)
1 South Africa Darren Fichardt 558,735
2 South Africa Nic Henning 525,388
3 South Africa Tjaart van der Walt 443,705
4 South Africa David Frost 347,527
5 South Africa Ashley Roestoff 330,590

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Rookie of the Year (Bobby Locke Trophy) South Africa Jean Hugo [6]

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. ^ "1999/2000 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  3. ^ "1999/2000 Vodacom Tour". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 15 August 2000. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  4. ^ "1999/2000 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  5. ^ Winter, Grant (6 February 2000). "Supermac's putter burns up the course". Independent Online. Retrieved 8 October 2023. This was the final event of the 1999/2000 Vodacom Tour and Darren Fichardt has won the Order of Merit with earnings of R558 735, closely followed by Nic Henning on R525 388 with Tjaart van der Walt third on R443 705. Nick Price (R501 896) and Retief Goosen (R479 000) earned more than Van der Walt but do not qualify for the Order of Merit as they have not played in four tournaments, which is a minimum requirement.
  6. ^ "Jean Hugo". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 29 November 2023. 1999: Winner of Bobby Locke Trophy for Rookie of the Year