The 2011 Sunshine Tour is the 12th season of professional golf tournaments since the southern Africa based Sunshine Tour was relaunched in 2000, and the 5th 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.
The tour is based predominantly in South Africa with other events being held in neighbouring countries, including Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Zambia and Namibia.
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The table below shows schedule of events for the early part of the 2011 Sunshine Tour season.[1] As usual, the tour consists of two distinct parts, commonly referred to as the "Summer Swing" and the "Winter Swing". Tournaments held during the Summer Swing generally have much higher prize funds, attract stronger fields, and are the only tournaments on the tour to carry world ranking points, with some 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 some events being held at the start of the year, and the remainder in December.
Prize funds shown do not count directly towards the Order of Merit. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of official money Sunshine Tour events he had won up to afnd including that tournament. This information is only shown for Sunshine Tour members.
| Dates | Tournament | Location (RSA unless stated) |
Prize fund | Winner | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–9 Jan | Africa Open | East London, Eastern Cape | €1,000,000 | Louis Oosthuizen (6) | 22 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| 13–16 Jan | Joburg Open | Johannesburg, Gauteng | €1,300,000 | Charl Schwartzel (5) | 20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| 27–30 Jan | Africom Zimbabwe Open | Harare, Zimbabwe | R1,250,000 | Theunis Spangenberg (1) | 14 | Shortened to 54 holes due to weather |
| 17–20 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | George, Western Cape | R3,000,000 | Hennie Otto (10) | 14 | |
| 24–27 Feb | Telkom PGA Championship | Johannesburg, Gauteng | R3,250,000 | George Coetzee (4) | 14 | |
| 17–20 Mar | MTC Namibia PGA Championship | Windhoek, Namibia | R1,200,000 | J. G. Claassen (1) | 14 | |
| 4–7 May | Investec Royal Swazi Open | Swaziland | R750,000 | Justin Walters (2) | 14 | |
| 12–14 May | Nashua Golf Challenge | Sun City, North West | R500,000 | Adilson da Silva (8) | n/a | |
| 25–27 May | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Pretoria) | Pretoria, Gauteng | R540,000 | Jean Hugo (11) | n/a | |
| 3–5 Jun | Lombard Insurance Classic | Swaziland | R850,000 | Justin Harding (2) | n/a | |
| 8–10 Jun | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Arabella) | Western Cape | R540,000 | Chris Swanepoel (2) | n/a | |
| 27–29 Jul | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Simola) | Eastern Cape | R540,000 | Jean Hugo (12) | n/a | |
| 10–12 Aug | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Wild Coast) | Kwazulu-Natal | R540,000 | Darren Fichardt (11) | n/a | |
| 31 Aug–2 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour (Sishen) | Northern Cape | R540,000 | Adilson da Silva (9) | n/a | |
| 7–9 Sep | Telkom PGA Pro-Am | Gauteng | R500,000 | Jaco Van Zyl (10) | n/a | |
| 15–17 Sep | Northern Cape Classic | Northern Cape | R600,000 | Oliver Bekker (1) | n/a | |
| 21–23 Sep | Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Final | Limpopo | R600,000 | Jean Hugo (13) | n/a | |
| 6–8 Oct | Platinum Classic | North West | R500,000 | Hennie Otto (11) | n/a | |
| 12–15 Oct | KCM Zambia Open | Chingola, Zambia | R1,200,000 | Doug McGuigan (5) | 14 | |
| 20–22 Oct | Suncoast Classic | Kwazulu-Natal | R500,000 | Darren Fichardt (12) | n/a | |
| 28–30 Oct | BMG Classic | Johannesburg, Gauteng | R600,000 | James Kamte (4) | n/a | |
| 3–6 Nov | Nashua Masters | Kwazulu-Natal | R1,200,000 | Shaun Norris (2) | 14 | |
| 8–10 Nov | Nedbank Affinity Cup | North West | R600,000 | Warren Abery (8) | n/a | |
| 17–20 Nov | Alfred Dunhill Championship | Malelane | €1,000,000 | Garth Mulroy (3) | 20 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| 24–27 Nov | South African Open | Ekurhuleni | €1,000,000 | Hennie Otto (12) | 32 | Co-sanctioned by the European Tour |
| 1–4 Dec | Nedbank Golf Challenge | Sun City, North West | US$5,000,000 | Lee Westwood (n/a) | 38 |
| Rank | Player[2] | Country | Events | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garth Mulroy | South Africa | 6 | 3,464,463 |
| 2 | Hennie Otto | South Africa | 7 | 2,806,214 |
| 3 | George Coetzee | South Africa | 9 | 1,586,587 |
| 4 | Thomas Aiken | South Africa | 6 | 1,569,896 |
| 5 | Jaco Van Zyl | South Africa | 8 | 1,231,134 |
Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen were ineligible for the Order of Merit having only played in three and one tournaments, respectively, during the season. Schwartzel earned R2,211,553 and Oosthuizen earned R1,394,800 from those events.
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