The 2004–05 Sunshine Tour was the 34th season of the Sunshine Tour (formerly the Southern Africa Tour), the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.
| Duration | 11 March 2004 – 27 February 2005 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 22 |
| Most wins |  Thomas Aiken (3) |
| Order of Merit | Charl Schwartzel |
| Rookie of the Year |  Garry Houston |
← 2003–04 2005–06 → | |
Schedule edit
The following table lists official events during the 2004–05 season.[1]
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[a] | OWGR points |
Other tours[b] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Mar | Stanbic Zambia Open | Zambia | €110,000 | Michael Kirk (1) |
10 | CHA | |
| 27 Mar | FNB Botswana Open | Botswana | 250,000 |  Barry Painting (1) |
n/a | ||
| 2 Apr | Parmalat Classic | Eastern Cape | 200,000 | Justin Walters (1) |
n/a | ||
| 8 May | Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open | Swaziland | 400,000 | Nic Henning (3) |
n/a | ||
| 29 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Pezula | Western Cape | 300,000 | Patrick O'Brien (1) |
n/a | New tournament series | |
| 12 Jun | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Schoeman Park | North West | 300,000 | Steve van Vuuren (6) |
n/a | ||
| 20 Jun | Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Swaziland | 250,000 | Bradford Vaughan (4) |
n/a | ||
| 2 Jul | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Zimbali | KwaZulu-Natal | 300,000 | Thomas Aiken (1) |
n/a | ||
| 23 Jul | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Sun City | North West | 300,000 | Thomas Aiken (2) |
n/a | ||
| 19 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Arabella | Western Cape | 300,000 | Louis Oosthuizen (1) |
n/a | ||
| 10 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Mpumalanga | 250,000 | Divan van den Heever (1) |
n/a | ||
| 16 Oct | Limpopo Eskom Classic | Limpopo | 500,000 | Bradford Vaughan (5) |
n/a | ||
| 21 Oct | Vodacom Origins of Golf Final | Western Cape | 300,000 | Thomas Aiken (3) |
n/a | ||
| 30 Oct | Platinum Classic | North West | 550,000 | Titch Moore (5) |
n/a | ||
| 6 Nov | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Namibia | 500,000 | Mark Murless (2) |
n/a | New tournament | |
| 13 Nov | Seekers Travel Pro-Am | Gauteng | 230,000 | Ulrich van den Berg (3) |
n/a | ||
| 12 Dec | Dunhill Championship | Mpumalanga | £500,000 | Charl Schwartzel (1) |
18 | EUR | |
| 23 Jan | South African Airways Open | KwaZulu-Natal | £500,000 | Tim Clark (2) |
32 | EUR | Flagship event |
| 30 Jan | Dimension Data Pro-Am | North West | 1,000,000 |  Simon Wakefield (1) |
12 | Pro-Am | |
| 6 Feb | Nashua Masters | Eastern Cape | 1,000,000 | Richard Sterne (1) |
12 | ||
| 20 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | Gauteng | 1,750,000 | Warren Abery (3) |
12 | ||
| 27 Feb | Vodacom Tour Championship | Gauteng | 2,000,000 | Marc Cayeux (7) |
12 | Tour Championship |
Order of Merit edit
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[2][3]
| Position | Player | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charl Schwartzel |
1,635,850 |
| 2 | Neil Cheetham |
732,963 |
| 3 | Warren Abery |
704,837 |
| 4 | Titch Moore |
490,268 |
| 5 | Marc Cayeux |
430,676 |
Awards edit
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Rookie of the Year (Bobby Locke Trophy) | Garry Houston |
[4] |
Notes edit
- ^ 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.
- ^ CHA − Challenge Tour; EUR − European Tour.
References edit
- ^ "2004/05 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ "2004/05 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ Winter, Grant (23 February 2005). "'Schwartzel is best young, player in world'". Independent Online. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
He has won the 2004-05 Sunshine Tour order of merit by the proverbial mile.
- ^ South African Golfers Yearbook. Picasso Headline. 2002. p. 9. Retrieved 8 November 2023 – via Google Books.
Rookie of the Year honours went to veteran Welshman Garry Houston, playing the tour for the first time. He finished 37th on the Order of Merit and just edged out 18-year-old Anton Haig (39th) by R3,300 for the award.