The 1998–99 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1998–99 Vodacom Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.
| Duration | 16 April 1998 – 21 February 1999 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 24 |
| Most wins |  Desvonde Botes (2) Marc Cayeux (2) Sammy Daniels (2) Justin Hobday (2) Ashley Roestoff (2) |
| Order of Merit | David Frost |
← 1997–98 | |
It was the second season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Vodacom, that was announced in June 1997.[1]
Changes for 1998–99
editThe season marked the first year in which the South African Open was granted "flagship event" status by the Official World Golf Ranking, awarding a minimum of 32 points to the winner.[2]
Schedule
editThe following table lists official events during the 1998–99 season.[3][4]
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[a] | OWGR points |
Other tours[b] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Apr | Vodacom Series (Western Cape) | Western Cape | 165,000 |  Alan McLean (1) |
n/a | ||
| 25 Apr | Kalahari Classic | Northern Cape | 75,000 |  Andrew McLardy (2) |
n/a | ||
| 2 May | Pietersburg Classic | Limpopo | 100,000 | Desvonde Botes (5) |
n/a | New tournament | |
| 16 May | Vodacom Series (Eastern Cape) | Eastern Cape | 165,000 | Sammy Daniels (1) |
n/a | ||
| 31 May | Vodacom Series (KwaZulu-Natal) | KwaZulu-Natal | 165,000 | Keith Horne (1) |
n/a | ||
| 12 Jul | Vodacom Series (Mpumalanga) | Mpumalanga | 165,000 | Callie Swart (1) |
n/a | ||
| 8 Aug | Fish River Sun Pro-Am | Eastern Cape | 200,000 | Ashley Roestoff (4) |
n/a | Pro-Am | |
| 15 Aug | Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Swaziland | 150,000 | Justin Hobday (4) |
n/a | New tournament | |
| 4 Sep | Absa Bank Corporate Challenge | Gauteng | 150,000 | Warren Abery (1) |
n/a | New tournament | |
| 13 Sep | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Mpumalanga | 100,000 | Wayne Bradley (1) |
n/a | ||
| 19 Sep | Vodacom Series (Free State) | Free State | 165,000 | Gary Matthews (1) |
n/a | ||
| 26 Sep | FNB Botswana Open | Botswana | 150,000 | Justin Hobday (5) |
n/a | ||
| 4 Oct | Phalaborwa Mafunyane Trophy | Limpopo | 175,000 | Sammy Daniels (2) |
n/a | ||
| 16 Oct | Vodacom Series (Gauteng) | Gauteng | 165,000 | Brenden Pappas (1) |
n/a | ||
| 25 Oct | FNB Namibia Open | Namibia | 150,000 | Ashley Roestoff (5) |
n/a | ||
| 8 Nov | Platinum Classic | North West | 100,000 | Bobby Lincoln (4) |
n/a | ||
| 22 Nov | Zambia Open | Zambia | 400,000 |  Marc Cayeux (1) |
n/a | ||
| 29 Nov | Zimbabwe Open | Zimbabwe | 450,000 | Nick Price (12) |
16 | ||
| 17 Jan | Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship | Gauteng | £400,000 | Ernie Els (11) |
24 | EUR | |
| 24 Jan | Mercedes-Benz - Vodacom South African Open | Western Cape | US$1,000,000 | David Frost (5) |
34 | EUR | Flagship event |
| 31 Jan | Vodacom Players Championship | KwaZulu-Natal | 1,000,000 |  Chris Davison (2) |
12 | ||
| 7 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | North West | 2,000,000 |  Scott Dunlap (2) |
14 | Pro-Am | |
| 14 Feb | South African Masters | Free State | 600,000 | Desvonde Botes (6) |
12 | ||
| 21 Feb | Stenham Royal Swazi Sun Open | Swaziland | 1,000,000 | Marc Cayeux (2) |
12 |
Unofficial events
editThe 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Dec | Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge | North West | US$2,500,000 | Nick Price
|
48 | Limited-field event |
Order of Merit
editThe Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[5]
| Position | Player | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Frost |
1,189,762 |
| 2 | Scott Dunlap |
885,792 |
| 3 | Richard Kaplan |
525,151 |
| 4 | Desvonde Botes |
410,598 |
| 5 | Ashley Roestoff |
367,726 |
Notes
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ EUR − European Tour.
References
edit- ^ "Vodacom boosts PGA tour, annoys competitor". Mail & Guardian. Johannesburg, South Africa. 13 June 1997. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- ^ "How ranking evolved". Official World Golf Ranking. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
1999: The Southern African Tour's South African Open was given "Flagship" status with 32 first place points
- ^ "1998/99 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- ^ "1998/99 Vodacom Tour". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 15 August 2000. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ "1998/99 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.