The South African Masters was one of the most prestigious

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

tournaments on the

Sunshine Tour The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the Southern Africa Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the F ...

. It was last played in 2011. Before its discontinuation, it had a prize fund of 1.2 million

rand The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

and was held at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club on the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

border,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

History

The tournament had its roots in the South African Professional Match Play Championship, the running of which was taken over by the PGA of South Africa in 1957. Under the sponsorship of Dunlop the event transitioned into a 72-hole

stroke play Stroke play is a scoring system in the sport of golf. In the regular form of stroke play, also known as medal play, the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In a regular stroke play competition, the winner is the ...

event in 1960. The first edition of the new Dunlop Masters, at

Houghton Golf Club Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada * Houghton Townsh ...

in 1960, was won by

Gary Player Gary James Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine ...

with an aggregate score of 266, a record that stood for 44 years. Player's total was equalled in 1970 by John Fourie, the only amateur to claim the title.

Andrew McLardy Andrew Ronald McLardy (born 20 January 1974) is a South African professional golfer. McLardy was born in Triangle, Zimbabwe to Scottish parents. He had a successful amateur career, including representing South Africa twice in the Eisenhower ...

posted 264 at the Wild Coast resort in 2004 and

Darren Fichardt Darren Clive Fichardt (born 13 May 1975) is a South African professional golfer who plays on both the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour. Early life Fichardt was born in Pretoria and grew up in Centurion, Gauteng. He attended Sutherland High S ...

holds the record of 263 set on the par-70 course in 2009. The South African Masters, along with the South African Open and the

South African PGA Championship The South African PGA Championship is one of the most prestigious golf tournaments on the Sunshine Tour. It has most recently been played in September, with a prize fund of . It is currently held at St Francis Links in St Francis Bay. History ...

formed the Triple Crown. Winning all three titles in the same season was a feat only achieved by Gary Player and

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is nicknamed "the Big Easy" due to his physical stature along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victories are four major ...

Winners

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sunshine Tour
- official site Former Sunshine Tour events Golf tournaments in South Africa