Golf tour season
The 1989–90 Southern Africa Tour was the 19th season of the Southern Africa Tour , the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.
Season outline
A variety of local golfers had success at the beginning of the season. South African Des Terblanche won the inaugural event, the Railfreight Bloemfontein Classic . It was his first victory on his home tour.[ 1] The next tournament was the Minolta Copiers Match Play , a medal match play event, held at Sun City Golf Course. In the quarterfinals, Fulton Allem tied the course record with a 65 to defeat competitor Hugh Baiocchi .[ 2] In the following two rounds Allem defeated "[t]ournament favourite" David Frost and John Bland to win the event.[ 2] [ 3] Frost, however, came back and won the next event, the unofficial Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge .[ 4] Baiocchi, meanwhile, won the next official tournament on the calendar, the Twee Jonge Gezellen Masters .[ 5] In mid-January, the Lexington PGA Championship was held, hosted by Wanderers Golf Course. Allem opened with a course record 61 to take the lead.[ 6] He would go on to win the event.[ 7]
In the middle of the season, a newly turned professional from America named John Daly had much success. Daly won the seventh tournament of the year, AECI Charity Classic by one over Northern Irishman David Feherty .[ 8] Two weeks later, Daly won again at the Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic defeating South African John Bland by two strokes.[ 9]
At the end of the season, there was a three-horse race to win the Order of Merit between Bland, the leader, with Wayne Westner directly behind him, and Tony Johnstone in third. The top two would receive automatic entries in the 1990 Open Championship .[ 10] Bland won the 11th event of the season, the Dewar's White Label Trophy , "to clinch the circuit Order of Merit title."[ 11]
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 1989–90 season.[ 12] [ 13]
Date
Tournament
Location
Purse (R )
Winner[ a]
OWGR points
Notes
18 Nov
Railfreight Bloemfontein Classic
Orange Free State
250,000
Des Terblanche (1)
8
24 Nov
Minolta Copiers Match Play
Transvaal
250,000
Fulton Allem (6)
8
17 Dec
Twee Jonge Gezellen Masters
Cape
250,000
Hugh Baiocchi (11)
8
13 Jan
ICL International
Transvaal
250,000
Gavan Levenson (5)
8
20 Jan
Lexington PGA Championship
Transvaal
250,000
Fulton Allem (7)
8
27 Jan
Protea Assurance South African Open
Transvaal
280,000
Trevor Dodds (2)
8
3 Feb
AECI Charity Classic
Transvaal
250,000
John Daly (1)
8
10 Feb
Goodyear Classic
Cape
250,000
Philip Jonas (1)
8
18 Feb
Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic
Swaziland
250,000
John Daly (2)
8
24 Feb
Palabora Classic
Transvaal
250,000
Tony Johnstone (12)
8
3 Mar
Dewar's White Label Trophy
Natal
250,000
John Bland (14)
8
10 Mar
Trustbank Tournament of Champions
Transvaal
250,000
Trevor Dodds (3)
8
Tour Championship
Unofficial events
The following events were sanctioned by the Southern Africa Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand .[ 14] [ 15]
Notes
^ 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.
References
External links