2008 Sunshine Tour
Year2008
TourSunshine Tour
Regular season10 January 2008 – 21 December 2008
No of events30
Most winsRichard Sterne (3)
Honor 1Order of Merit
Honoree 1Richard Sterne
Honor 2Players' Player of the Year
Honor 3Rookie of the Year
Honoree 3Louis Moolman
Prevseason2007
Nextseason2009

The 2008 Sunshine Tour was the 38th season of the Sunshine Tour (formerly the Southern Africa Tour), the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2008 season.[1]

DateTournamentLocationPurse
(R)		Winner[a]OWGR
points		Other
tours[b]		Notes
13 JanJoburg OpenGauteng€1,100,000Richard Sterne (3)20EUR
27 JanDimension Data Pro-AmNorth West1,800,000James Kamte (2)14Pro-Am
3 FebNashua MastersEastern Cape1,200,000Marc Cayeux (9)14
10 FebAfrica OpenEastern Cape1,200,000Shaun Norris (1)14New tournament
17 FebVodacom ChampionshipGauteng2,400,000James Kingston (8)14
24 FebTelkom PGA ChampionshipGauteng2,500,000Louis Oosthuizen (5)14
2 MarMount Edgecombe TrophyKwaZulu-Natal500,000Mark Murless (4)n/a
30 MarChainama Hills Zambia OpenZambia750,000Tyrone Ferreira (1)n/a
4 AprVodacom Origins of Golf at BloemfonteinFree State440,000Dion Fourie (2)n/a
25 AprVodacom Origins of Golf at PretoriaGauteng440,000Tyrone van Aswegen (1)n/a
10 MaySamsung Royal Swazi Sun OpenSwaziland700,000Jean Hugo (6)n/a
17 MayNashua Golf ChallengeNorth West500,000Keith Horne (3)n/a
30 MayVodacom Origins of Golf at SelborneKwaZulu-Natal440,000Jean Hugo (7)n/a
8 JunLombard Insurance ClassicSwaziland400,000Merrick Bremner (1)n/a
23 AugSAA Pro-Am InvitationalWestern Cape500,000George Coetzee (2)n/a
29 AugVodacom Origins of Golf at ArabellaWestern Cape440,000Garth Mulroy (1)n/a
5 SepTelkom PGA Pro-AmGauteng400,000Merrick Bremner (2)n/a
13 SepSuncoast ClassicKwaZulu-Natal500,000Jake Roos (1)n/a
19 SepVodacom Origins of Golf at HumewoodEastern Cape440,000George Coetzee (3)n/a
4 OctSeekers Travel Pro-AmGauteng440,000Trevor Fisher Jnr (3)n/a
12 OctBMG ClassicGauteng500,000Doug McGuigan (3)n/aNew tournament
19 OctMetmar Highveld ClassicMpumalanga600,000James Kamte (3)n/a
24 OctVodacom Origins of Golf FinalWestern Cape440,000Jaco van Zyl (2)n/a
1 NovPlatinum ClassicNorth West705,000Thomas Aiken (7)n/a
9 NovMTC Namibia PGA ChampionshipNamibia1,000,000Tongoona Charamba (2)n/a
27 NovCoca-Cola Charity ChampionshipWestern Cape550,000Garth Mulroy (2)n/a
3 DecNedbank Affinity CupNorth West550,000Tyrone van Aswegen (2)n/a
7 DecNedbank Golf ChallengeNorth WestUS$4,385,000Henrik Stenson (n/a)34Limited-field event
14 DecAlfred Dunhill ChampionshipMpumalanga€1,000,000Richard Sterne (4)24EUR
21 DecSouth African Open ChampionshipWestern Cape€1,000,000Richard Sterne (5)40EURFlagship event

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

DateTournamentLocationPurse
(R)		WinnerOWGR
points		Other
tours[b]		Notes
9 NovHSBC ChampionsChinaUS$5,000,000Sergio García52ANZ,[c] ASA,[d] EURLimited-field event

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[2][3]

PositionPlayerPrize money (R)
1Richard Sterne5,999,265
2Garth Mulroy1,442,351
3Thomas Aiken967,378
4Mark Murless885,056
5James Kingston775,903

Awards

AwardWinnerRef.
Rookie of the Year (Bobby Locke Trophy)Louis Moolman[4]

Notes

  1. ^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Sunshine Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Sunshine Tour members.
  2. ^ ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; EUR − European Tour.
  3. ^ PGA Tour of Australasia unofficial event
  4. ^ Asian Tour unofficial event

References

  1. ^ "2008 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  2. ^ "2008 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Archived 19 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  3. ^ Winter, Grant (22 December 2008). "Sterne proves he's a true diamond". Independent Online. Retrieved 19 April 2023. That win at Leopard Creek, incidentally, sealed 2008 Sunshine Order of Merit honours for him with earnings of just over R3.8-million. Now he's added a further R2.15-million, bringing his seasons earnings to almost R6-million.
  4. ^ "Louis Moolman". European Tour. Retrieved 9 September 2023. The same year, he won the Sunshine Tour Rookie of the Year award following ten top 20 finishes.