2009 Sunshine Tour
The 2009 Sunshine Tour was the tenth season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was relaunched in 2000, and the third since the tour switched a calendar based season in 2007. The Sunshine Tour represents the highest level of competition for male professional golfers in the region.
| Duration | 8 January 2009 – 20 December 2009 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 30 |
| Most wins | 3: Darren Fichardt Brandon Pieters Jaco van Zyl |
| Order of Merit |  Anders Hansen |
← 2008 2010 → | |
The tour was based predominantly in South Africa, with 26 of the 30 tournaments being held in the country. Two events were held in Swaziland, with one each in Zambia and Namibia.
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, with three events being co-sanctioned with the European Tour. Since the tour switched to a calendar based season, this part of the tour has been split in two, with six events being held at the start of the year, and the remainder in December.
The Winter Swing ran from April to early December, starting with the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour, and closing with the Nedbank Affinity Cup.
The Order of Merit was won by Anders Hansen of Denmark.[1]
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2009 season.[2]
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[lower-alpha 1] | OWGR points |
Other tours[lower-alpha 2] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Jan | Joburg Open | Gauteng | €1,100,000 | Anders Hansen (1) |
20 | EUR | |
| 18 Jan | Africa Open Golf Challenge | Eastern Cape | 5,000,000 | Retief Goosen (9) |
18 | ||
| 25 Jan | Dimension Data Pro-Am | North West | 1,800,000 | Deane Pappas (2) |
14 | Pro-Am | |
| 1 Feb | Nashua Masters | Eastern Cape | 1,200,000 | Darren Fichardt (7) |
14 | ||
| 15 Feb | Vodacom Championship | Gauteng | 2,650,000 | Anders Hansen (2) |
14 | ||
| 22 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | Gauteng | 2,750,000 | Jaco van Zyl (3) |
14 | ||
| 3 Apr | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Bloemfontein | Free State | 480,000 | Trevor Fisher Jnr (4) |
n/a | ||
| 2 May | SAA Pro-Am Invitational | KwaZulu-Natal | 500,000 |  Adilson da Silva (5) |
n/a | ||
| 9 May | Samsung Royal Swazi Sun Open | Swaziland | 750,000 | Jaco van Zyl (4) |
n/a | ||
| 16 May | Nashua Golf Challenge | North West | 500,000 |  Doug McGuigan (4) |
n/a | ||
| 22 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Pretoria | Gauteng | 480,000 | Brandon Pieters (1) |
n/a | ||
| 7 Jun | Lombard Insurance Classic | Swaziland | 500,000 | Peter Karmis (2) |
n/a | ||
| 25 Jun | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Fancourt | Western Cape | 480,000 | Brandon Pieters (2) |
n/a | ||
| 8 Aug | Suncoast Classic | KwaZulu-Natal | 500,000 | Louis de Jager (1) |
n/a | ||
| 14 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Erinvale | Western Cape | 480,000 | Jaco Ahlers (1) |
n/a | ||
| 21 Aug | Telkom PGA Pro-Am | Gauteng | 450,000 | Jaco van Zyl (5) |
n/a | ||
| 30 Aug[lower-alpha 3] |
Zambia Open | Zambia | 800,000 | Jbe' Kruger (1) |
n/a | ||
| 5 Sep | SAA Pro-Am Invitational | Gauteng | 500,000 | Ryan Tipping (1) |
n/a | ||
| 18 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Selborne | KwaZulu-Natal | 480,000 | Darren Fichardt (8) |
n/a | ||
| 3 Oct | SAA Pro-Am Invitational | Western Cape | 500,000 | Prinavin Nelson (1) |
n/a | ||
| 9 Oct | Vodacom Origins of Golf Final | Western Cape | 480,000 | Brandon Pieters (3) |
n/a | ||
| 18 Oct | BMG Classic | Gauteng | 500,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Graham DeLaet (1) |
n/a | ||
| 25 Oct | Highveld Classic | Mpumalanga | 600,000 | Lindani Ndwandwe (2) |
n/a | ||
| 31 Oct | Platinum Classic | North West | 705,000 | Darren Fichardt (9) |
n/a | ||
| 15 Nov | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Namibia | 1,000,000 | Hennie Otto (8) |
14 | ||
| 26 Nov | Coca-Cola Charity Championship | Western Cape | 550,000 | Christiaan Basson (1) |
n/a | ||
| 2 Dec | Nedbank Affinity Cup | North West | 550,000 | Jake Roos (2) |
n/a | ||
| 6 Dec | Nedbank Golf Challenge | North West | US$4,385,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Robert Allenby (n/a) |
30 | Limited-field event | |
| 13 Dec | Alfred Dunhill Championship | Mpumalanga | €1,000,000 |  Pablo Martín (n/a) |
20 | EUR | |
| 20 Dec | South African Open Championship | Western Cape | €1,000,000 | Richie Ramsay (n/a) |
32 | EUR | Flagship event |
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[5]
| Position | Player | Events | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anders Hansen | 5 | 4,286,038 |
| 2 | Charl Schwartzel | 5 | 2,315,188 |
| 3 | Darren Fichardt | 24 | 1,475,026 |
| 4 | Jaco van Zyl | 25 | 1,333,023 |
| 5 | David Drysdale | 6 | 1,184,733 |
Notes
- 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.
- EUR − European Tour.
- Postponed from its original date in March.[3][4]
References
- Dempster, Martin (21 December 2009). "Richie Ramsay holds nerve to fend off Shiv Kapur and win maiden European Tour title". The Scotsman. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- "2009 Sunshine Tour schedule". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
- "Zambia Open Golf Championship Postponed". Lusaka Times. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
- "Zambia Open back on Sunshine Tour calendar". Sunshine Tour. 23 July 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
- "2009 Final Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. 20 December 2009. Retrieved 23 December 2009.