The 2005–06 Sunshine Tour was the 35th 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 | 16 March 2005 – 26 February 2006 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 21 |
| Most wins |  Thomas Aiken (2) Desvonde Botes (2) Bradford Vaughan (2) |
| Order of Merit | Charl Schwartzel |
← 2004–05 2006–07 → | |
Schedule edit
The following table lists official events during the 2005–06 season.[1]
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[a] | OWGR points |
Other tours[b] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Mar | FNB Botswana Open | Botswana | 250,000 | Nico van Rensburg (3) |
n/a | ||
| 9 Apr | Parmalat Classic | Eastern Cape | 300,000 | Ulrich van den Berg (4) |
n/a | ||
| 7 May | Capital Alliance Royal Swazi Sun Open | Swaziland | 500,000 | Hendrik Buhrmann (4) |
n/a | ||
| 13 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Pretoria | Gauteng | 330,000 | Desvonde Botes (10) |
n/a | ||
| 27 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Pezula | Western Cape | 330,000 | Desvonde Botes (11) |
n/a | ||
| 1 Jul | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Wild Coast Sun | Eastern Cape | 330,000 | Dean Lambert (1) |
n/a | ||
| 26 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Bloemfontein | Free State | 330,000 | Nic Henning (4) |
n/a | ||
| 2 Sep | Telkom PGA Pro-Am | Gauteng | 300,000 | Thomas Aiken (4) |
n/a | New tournament | |
| 9 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf at Erinvale | Western Cape | 330,000 | Hennie Otto (6) |
n/a | ||
| 1 Oct | Seekers Travel Pro-Am | Gauteng | 300,000 | Anton Haig (1) |
n/a | ||
| 9 Oct | Bearing Man Highveld Classic | Mpumalanga | 400,000 | Bradford Vaughan (6) |
n/a | ||
| 15 Oct | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Namibia | 500,000 | Thomas Aiken (5) |
n/a | ||
| 21 Oct | Vodacom Origins of Golf Final | Western Cape | 400,000 | Steve Basson (1) |
n/a | ||
| 29 Oct | Platinum Classic | North West | 500,000 | Jaco van Zyl (1) |
n/a | ||
| 20 Nov | Limpopo Classic | Limpopo | 1,000,000 | Bradford Vaughan (7) |
18 | ||
| 11 Dec | Dunhill Championship | Mpumalanga | €1,000,000 | Ernie Els (13) |
20 | EUR | |
| 18 Dec | South African Airways Open | Western Cape | €1,000,000 | Retief Goosen (5) |
32 | EUR | Flagship event |
| 29 Jan | Dimension Data Pro-Am | North West | 1,000,000 |  Alan McLean (2) |
12 | Pro-Am | |
| 5 Feb | Nashua Masters | Eastern Cape | 1,000,000 | Warren Abery (4) |
12 | ||
| 19 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | Gauteng | 2,000,000 |  Grégory Bourdy (1) |
12 | ||
| 26 Feb | Vodacom Tour Championship | Gauteng | 2,000,000 | Charl Schwartzel (2) |
12 | Tour Championship |
Unofficial events edit
The following events were sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner | OWGR points |
Other tours[b] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Nov | HSBC Champions | China | US$5,000,000 |  David Howell
|
48 | ANZ, ASA, EUR | New tournament Limited-field event |
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 |
1,207,460 |
| 2 | Grégory Bourdy |
936,394 |
| 3 | Louis Oosthuizen |
842,092 |
| 4 | Thomas Aiken |
779,566 |
| 5 | Darren Fichardt |
763,324 |
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.
- ^ a b ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; EUR − European Tour.
References edit
- ^ "2005/06 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ "2005/06 Order of Merit". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ Winter, Grant (27 February 2006). "Bright year awaits Schwartzel". Independent Online. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
On Sunday he not only picked up R317 000 for the win, but became the first player since John Bland in 1989/1990 and 1990/91 to top the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit two years running.