1997–98 Southern Africa Tour

1997–98 Southern Africa Tour season
Duration10 April 1997 (1997-04-10) – 8 March 1998 (1998-03-08)
Number of official events24
Most winsSouth Africa Desvonde Botes (3)
Order of MeritZimbabwe Mark McNulty
Rookie of the YearSouth Africa Richard Fulford

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.

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][3]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R) 		Winner[a] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[b] 		Notes
12 Apr Kalahari Classic Northern Cape 70,000 South Africa Sean Pappas (3) n/a
27 Jun Vodacom Series (Eastern Cape) Eastern Cape 150,000 South Africa Des Terblanche (4) n/a New tournament series
5 Jul Bosveld Classic Limpopo 150,000 South Africa Desvonde Botes (2) n/a
12 Jul Vodacom Series (Mpumalanga) Mpumalanga 150,000 South Africa Robbie Stewart (1) n/a
26 Jul Trustbank Gauteng Classic Gauteng 120,000 South Africa Bradford Vaughan (1) n/a
9 Aug Vodacom Series (Gauteng) Gauteng 150,000 United States John Nelson (1) n/a
30 Aug FNB Botswana Open Botswana 150,000 Zimbabwe Nasho Kamungeremu (1) n/a New tournament
13 Sep FNB Namibia Open Namibia 150,000 South Africa Wallie Coetsee (1) n/a New tournament
21 Sep Bearing Man Highveld Classic Mpumalanga 75,000 South Africa Darren Fichardt (1) n/a
11 Oct Vodacom Series (Free State) Free State 150,000 South Africa Dean van Staden (1) n/a
18 Oct Vodacom Series (Western Cape) Western Cape 150,000 South Africa Desvonde Botes (3) n/a
25 Oct Vodacom Series (KwaZulu-Natal) KwaZulu-Natal 150,000 South Africa Grant Muller (1) n/a
1 Nov Lombard Tyres Classic Gauteng 120,000 South Africa Andrew McLardy (1) n/a
16 Nov Leopard Rock Classic Zimbabwe 100,000 Brazil Adilson da Silva (1) n/a
23 Nov Zambia Open Zambia 250,000 Republic of Ireland James Loughnane (1) n/a
30 Nov Zimbabwe Open Zimbabwe 400,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (10) 20
14 Dec Mycom Mafunyane Trophy Limpopo 200,000 South Africa Kevin Stone (3) n/a
17 Jan Platinum Classic North West 100,000 South Africa Desvonde Botes (4) n/a
1 Feb Nashua Wild Coast Sun Challenge Western Cape 500,000 Brazil Adilson da Silva (2) 14
8 Feb South African Open KwaZulu-Natal £450,000 South Africa Ernie Els (10) 30 EUR
15 Feb Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship Gauteng £400,000 Zimbabwe Tony Johnstone (17) 36 EUR
22 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am North West 1,900,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (11) 18 Pro-Am
28 Feb Stenham Royal Swazi Sun Open Swaziland 500,000 Eswatini Paul Friedlander (2) 12
8 Mar Vodacom Players Championship Gauteng 1,000,000 Zimbabwe 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 Zimbabwe 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.[4]

Position Player Prize money (R)
1 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty 589,053
2 Zimbabwe Tony Johnstone 553,327
3 United States Scott Dunlap 368,378
4 South Africa Marco Gortana 289,062
5 South Africa Nic Henning 277,552

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Rookie of the Year (Bobby Locke Trophy) South Africa Richard Fulford [5]

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 Vodacom Tour". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 15 August 2000. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  4. ^ "1997/98 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Nick Price wins Golfer of the Year Award". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 25 January 1999. Retrieved 20 August 2024. The Bobby Locke Rookie of the year award went to Richard Fulford. He won just over R37,000 in 18 events, including a number of top ten finishes.