2003–04 Sunshine Tour
The 2003–04 Sunshine Tour was the fourth season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was rebranded in 2000. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region.
There were 17 tournaments on the schedule. This was an increase of one from the previous year. There were three tournaments from the previous season that were eliminated: the Dimension Data Better-Ball tournament, the Vodacom Golf Classic, and the Vodacom Players Championship. Three new tournaments were added: the Canon Classic (played in 2003 only), the Devondale Championship (played in 2003 only), and the Parmalat Classic. The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 13 of the 17 tournaments being held in the country. Two events were held in Swaziland, and one event each was held in Botswana and Zambia. Two events, the Dunhill Championship and the South African Airways Open were co-sanctioned by the European Tour.
The Order of Merit was won by Darren Fichardt.
Schedule
The table below shows schedule of events for the 2003–04 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 6–8 Mar | Stanbic Zambia Open | Lusaka Golf Club, Zambia | 500,000 |  Johan Edfors | Not played again until 2006 Co-sanctioned with Challenge Tour | [1] |
| 2003 | 27–29 Mar | FNB Botswana Open | Phakalane GC, Botswana | 150,000 |  Trevor Fisher Jnr (1) | [2] | |
| 2003 | 9–10 May | Limpopo Industrelek Classic | Pietersburg Golf Club | 175,000 |  Marc Cayeux (6) | [3] | |
| 2003 | 16–18 May | Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open | Royal Swazi Sun Country Club, Swaziland | 175,000 | Des Terblanche (11) | [4] | |
| 2003 | 28–30 May | Devonvale Championship | Devonvale Conf & Golf Estate | 100,000 | Hendrik Buhrmann (7) | Only year of this tournament | [5] |
| 2003 | 5–7 Jun | Canon Classic | Bramble Hill GC, Fancourt | 100,000 | Tyrol Auret | Only year of this tournament | [6] |
| 2003 | 20–22 Jun | Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Royal Swazi Sun Country Club, Swaziland | 100,000 | Nic Henning (2) | [7] | |
| 2003 | 25–27 Jun | Parmalat Classic | Silver Lakes Golf Club | 100,000 | Desvonde Botes (10) | New tournament | [8] |
| 2003 | 2–4 Oct | Seekers Travel Pro-Am | Dainfern Country Club | 100,000 |  Chris Williams (9) | New tournament | [9] |
| 2003 | 10–12 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Witbank Golf Club | 100,000 | Dion Fourie | [10] | |
| 2003 | 30 Oct – 1 Nov | Platinum Classic | Mooinooi Golf Club | 300,000 | Doug McGuigan (1) | [11] | |
| 2004 | 15–18 Jan | South African Airways Open | Erinvale Golf Club | 2,650,000 | Trevor Immelman (4) | Co-sanctioned with European Tour | [12] |
| 2004 | 22–25 Jan | Dunhill Championship | Houghton Golf Club | 3,100,000 |  Marcel Siem | Co-sanctioned with European Tour | [13] |
| 2004 | 29 Jan – 1 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | Gary Player Country Club | 1,000,000 | Darren Fichardt (4) | [14] | |
| 2004 | 5–8 Feb | Nashua Masters | Wild Coast Sun Country Club | 500,000 | Andrew McLardy (4) | [15] | |
| 2004 | 12–15 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | Woodhill Country Club | 600,000 | Warrick Druian (2) | [16] | |
| 2004 | 19–22 Feb | The Tour Championship | Leopard Creek Country Club | 1,200,000 | Andrew McLardy (5) | [17] |
Order of Merit
| Rank | Player[18] | Country | Events | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Fichardt | South Africa | 6 | 726,544.74 |
| 2 | Andrew McLardy | South Africa | 7 | 617,278.20 |
| 3 | Desvonde Botes | South Africa | 16 | 457,265.25 |
| 4 | Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 8 | 381,729.03 |
| 5 | Titch Moore | South Africa | 10 | 368,709.76 |
References
- ↑ Stanbic Zambia Open results
- ↑ FNB Botswana Open results
- ↑ Limpopo Industrelek Classic results
- ↑ Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open results
- ↑ Devonvale Championship results
- ↑ Canon Classic results
- ↑ Royal Swazi Sun Classic results
- ↑ Parmalat Classic results
- ↑ Seekers Travel Pro-Am results
- ↑ Bearing Man Highveld Classic results
- ↑ Platinum Classic results
- ↑ South African Airways Open results
- ↑ Dunhill Championship results
- ↑ Dimension Data Pro-Am results
- ↑ Nashua Masters results
- ↑ Telkom PGA Championship results
- ↑ The Tour Championship results
- ↑ "2003/2004 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 2004-02-22. Retrieved 2014-07-19.