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 FNB Tour and the Vodacom Tour. For the 2000–01 season the tour rebranded itself as the Sunshine Tour in an attempt to broaden its appeal. A large majority of the tour events are still staged in South Africa.

History and status The tour is one of the six leading men's tours which before 2009 made up the membership of the International Federation of PGA Tours, but it offers much less prize money than some of the leading tours, and leading Southern African golfers traditionally prefer to play on the PGA Tour or the European Tour if they can qualify to do so, typically returning to play in Sunshine Tour events a couple of times a year.

Most of the tour's leading official money events, including the South African Open, are co-sanctioned with the European Tour to attract stronger fields. The 2015 season included 27 official money events. The co-sanctioned events had purses ranging from to , while the other 21 events had purses designated in South African Rand and ranging from 650,000 rand to 4.5 million rand. There was at least one tournament every month of the year except July, but the main events took place in the South African summer from November to February.

In accordance with the apartheid policy of the governments of Southern Africa, the tour was only open to White players for its first 20 years. The tour has been open to non-White players since 1991. Five black golfers have won events: South Africa's John Mashego at the 1991 Bushveld Classic; South Africa's Lindani Ndwandwe at the 2001 Western Cape Classic and 2009 Highveld Classic; Zimbabwe's Tongoona Charamba at the 2006 SAA Pro-Am Invitational and 2008 MTC Namibia PGA Championship; Zambia's Madalitso Muthiya at the 2016 Vodacom Origins of Golf (Wild Coast); and South Africa's Toto Thimba Jr. at the 2019 KCB Karen Masters.

In 2016, the Sunshine Tour announced an affiliation with the MENA Golf Tour, allowing the top five MENA Tour players Sunshine Tour cards and those 6th-15th into the final stage of Q School. A number of events would also be co-sanctioned among the Sunshine Tour, MENA Tour, and developmental Big Easy Tour.

In May 2022, it was announced that the Order of Merit would be reformatted for the 2022–23 season. It was sponsored by Luno, a cryptocurrency platform. The rankings changed to a points-based system, rather than being decided on money earned. Points earned are based on tournament prize money which are split into five tiers. The leader of the OoM will receive ; paid in Bitcoin.

Since 2022, the top three players on the Order of Merit at the end of the season earn status to play on the European Tour for the following season.

Schedule

Order of Merit winners Season Winner Points2025–26 Casey Jarvis 4,8632024–25 Daniel van Tonder 4,1552023–24 Ryan van Velzen 3,5252022–23 Ockie Strydom 3,336Season Winner Prize money (R)2021–22 Shaun Norris 4,890,9942020–21 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 7,789,0882019–20 J. C. Ritchie 2,162,387 2018–19 Zander Lombard 2,119,9852017–18 George Coetzee (2) 2,937,2262016–17 Brandon Stone 7,384,8892015 George Coetzee 5,470,6842014 Thomas Aiken 4,057,6422013 Dawie van der Walt 5,094,3332012 Branden Grace 2,760,3192011 Garth Mulroy 3,464,4632010 Charl Schwartzel (4) 5,097,9142009 Anders Hansen 4,286,0382008 Richard Sterne 5,599,2652007 James Kingston 1,980,6892006–07 Charl Schwartzel (3) 1,585,1172005–06 Charl Schwartzel (2) 1,207,4602004–05 Charl Schwartzel 1,635,8502003–04 Darren Fichardt (2) 726,5452002–03 Trevor Immelman 2,044,2802001–02 Tim Clark 1,669,9012000–01 Mark McNulty (8) 1,603,4811999–2000 Darren Fichardt 558,7351998–99 David Frost 1,189,7621997–98 Mark McNulty (7) 589,0531996–97 Nick Price (2) 1,223,0271995–96 Wayne Westner 709,3891994–95 Ernie Els (2) 460,4881993–94 Tony Johnstone (2) 297,3591992–93 Mark McNulty (6) 250,0791991–92 Ernie Els 324,0171990–91 John Bland (4) 333,6371989–90 John Bland (3) 180,8931988–89 Tony Johnstone 254,9501987–88 John Bland (2) 143,3011986–87 Mark McNulty (5) 134,6901985–86 Mark McNulty (4) 113,5271984–85 Mark McNulty (3) 57,7501983–84 Gavan Levenson 43,9401982–83 Nick Price 31,9861981–82 Mark McNulty (2) 67,0541980–81 Mark McNulty 50,1921979–80 Gary Player (2) 49,6801978–79 Hugh Baiocchi 19,8041977–78 John Bland 25,1711976–77 Gary Player 19,3631975–76 Allan Henning (2) 18,275Season Winner Points1974–75 Allan Henning 1,8331973–74 Bobby Cole 1,6641972–73 Dale Hayes 1,2521971–72 Tienie Britz 1,604

Multiple winners RankPlayerWinsYears won1 Mark McNulty 8 1980–81, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1997–98, 2000–012 John Bland 4 1977–78, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91 Charl Schwartzel 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2010T4 George Coetzee 2 2015, 2017–18 Ernie Els 1991–92, 1994–95 Darren Fichardt 1999–2000, 2003–04 Allan Henning 1974–75, 1975–76 Tony Johnstone 1988–89, 1993–94 Gary Player 1976–77, 1979–80 Nick Price 1982–83, 1996–97

Awards SeasonPlayers' Player of the YearRookie of the Year2025–26 Herman Loubser Luis Carrera2024–25 No award Altin van der Merwe2023–24 Robin Williams2022–23 Casey Jarvis2021–22 Jayden Schaper (2)2020–21 Jayden Schaper2019–20 Garrick Higgo2018–19 Benjamin Follett-Smith2017–18 Oliver Bekker Neil O'Briain2016–17 Unknown Christiaan Bezuidenhout2015 Dean Burmester Rourke van der Spuy2014 Unknown Haydn Porteous2013 Darren Fichardt Dylan Frittelli2012 Trevor Fisher Jnr Daniel van Tonder2011 Jean Hugo Allan Versfeld2010 Jaco van Zyl Anthony Michael2009 Unknown Graham DeLaet2008 Louis Moolman2007 Ross McGowan2006–07 Rossouw Loubser2005–06 Mohamed Tayob2004–05 Garry Houston2003–04 Johan Edfors2002–03 Charl Schwartzel2001–02 Nicholas Lawrence2000–01 Trevor Immelman1999–2000 Jean Hugo1998–99 Unknown1997–98 Richard Fulford1996–97 Unknown1995–96 Alan McLean1994–95 Unknown1993–94 Brenden Pappas

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