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.
| Duration | 10 April 1997 – 8 March 1998 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 24 |
| Most wins |  Desvonde Botes (3) |
| Order of Merit |  Mark McNulty |
| Rookie of the Year | Richard Fulford |
← 1996–97 1998–99 → | |
Vodacom title sponsorship
editIn 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
editThe 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 | n/a | |||
| 27 Jun | Vodacom Series (Eastern Cape) | Eastern Cape | 150,000 | n/a | New tournament series | ||
| 5 Jul | Bosveld Classic | Limpopo | 150,000 | n/a | |||
| 12 Jul | Vodacom Series (Mpumalanga) | Mpumalanga | 150,000 | n/a | |||
| 26 Jul | Trustbank Gauteng Classic | Gauteng | 120,000 | n/a | |||
| 9 Aug | Vodacom Series (Gauteng) | Gauteng | 150,000 | n/a | |||
| 30 Aug | FNB Botswana Open | Botswana | 150,000 | n/a | New tournament | ||
| 13 Sep | FNB Namibia Open | Namibia | 150,000 | n/a | New tournament | ||
| 21 Sep | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Mpumalanga | 75,000 | n/a | |||
| 11 Oct | Vodacom Series (Free State) | Free State | 150,000 | n/a | |||
| 18 Oct | Vodacom Series (Western Cape) | Western Cape | 150,000 | n/a | |||
| 25 Oct | Vodacom Series (KwaZulu-Natal) | KwaZulu-Natal | 150,000 | n/a | |||
| 1 Nov | Lombard Tyres Classic | Gauteng | 120,000 | n/a | |||
| 16 Nov | Leopard Rock Classic | Zimbabwe | 100,000 | n/a | |||
| 23 Nov | Zambia Open | Zambia | 250,000 | n/a | |||
| 30 Nov | Zimbabwe Open | Zimbabwe | 400,000 | 20 | |||
| 14 Dec | Mycom Mafunyane Trophy | Limpopo | 200,000 | n/a | |||
| 17 Jan | Platinum Classic | North West | 100,000 | n/a | |||
| 1 Feb | Nashua Wild Coast Sun Challenge | Western Cape | 500,000 | 14 | |||
| 8 Feb | South African Open | KwaZulu-Natal | £450,000 | 30 | EUR | ||
| 15 Feb | Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship | Gauteng | £400,000 | 36 | EUR | ||
| 22 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | North West | 1,900,000 | 18 | Pro-Am | ||
| 28 Feb | Stenham Royal Swazi Sun Open | Swaziland | 500,000 | 12 | |||
| 8 Mar | Vodacom Players Championship | Gauteng | 1,000,000 | 14 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Dec | Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge | North West | US$2,500,000 | 44 | Limited-field event |
Order of Merit
editThe Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[4]
| Position | Player | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 589,053 | |
| 2 | 553,327 | |
| 3 | 368,378 | |
| 4 | 289,062 | |
| 5 | 277,552 |
Awards
edit| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Rookie of the Year (Bobby Locke Trophy) | [5] |
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.
- ^ "1997/98 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- ^ "1997/98 Vodacom Tour". Sunshine Tour. Archived from the original on 15 August 2000. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ "1997/98 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
- ^ "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.