SUNSHINE TOUR
SUNSHINE TOUR TRIVIA & STATS TOURNAMENT WINNERS Luis Carrera Zimbabwe Open 270 Luis Carrera Kit Kat Pro-Am 258 Kieran Vincent Tournament of Champions 270 Malcolm Mitchell Gary & Vivienne Challenge 204 Samuel Simpson Zambia Open 277 Michael Hollick FNB Eswatini Challenge 200 Herman Loubser Vodacom Origins Parys 208 Jon Broomhead SunBet Wingate Park 203 Austin Bautista SunBet Wild Coast 196 Haydn Porteous VOG Gowrie Farm 135 Louis Albertse SunBet Umhlali 202 Jacques Kruyswijk VOG Devonvale 203 Pieter Moolman Limpopo Championship 276 Warwick Purchase Fortress Invitational 269 Hennie du Plessis Blue Label Challenge 49pts Casey Jarvis They Hyundai Open 265 J C Ritchie Players Championship 267 Casey Jarvis VOG Final Pezula 264 Deon Germishuys PGA Championship 274 Jayden Schaper Alfred Dunhill Champs 198 Jayden Schaper Mauritius Open 266 Ben Follett-Smith Cell C Challenge 265 M J Viljoen SDC Open 272 Will Enefer Cape Town Open 274 M J Daffue NTT Data Pro-Am 200 Oliver Bekker Jonsson Workwear Open 200 Casey Jarvis Investec SA Open 266 Dan Bradbury Joburg Open 263 Daniel van Tonder Serengeti Playoffs 267 Martin Vorster Tour Championship 267
Order of Merit 1 Casey Jarvis 2 Hennie du Plessis 3 Herman Loubser 4 Daniel van Tonder 5 M J Viljoen 6 Pieter Moolman 7 Oliver Bekker 8 Christiaan Burke 9 Luis Carrera 10 Jaco Prinsloo 11 Haydn Porteous 12 Deon Germishuys 13 Samuel Simpson 14 Martin Vorster 15 Austin Bautista 16 Luke Brown 17 Louis Albertse 18 Michael Hollick 19 Altin van der Merwe 20 Jon Broomhead BIGGEST MOVES UP ORDER OF MERIT (Compared to 24/25) Casey Jarvis 51 to 1 Herman Loubser 40 to 3 M J Viljoen 18 to 5 Oliver Bekker 103 to 7 Christiaan Burke 27 to 8 Jaco Prinsloo 108 to 10 Haydn Porteous 113 to 11 Deon Germishuys 78 to 12 Samuel Simpson 65 to 13 Louis Albertse 68 to 17 Hennie Otto 75 to 21 BIGGEST DROPS Jon Broomhead 4 to 20 Yurav Premlall 6 to 28 Jacques Blaauw 8 to 66 Jean Hugo 9 to 36 Keenan Davidse 10 to 50 Jovan Rebula 13 to 99 George Coetzee 15 to 55 Nikil Rama 17 to 44 Heinrich Bruiners 33 to 72 Neil Schietekat 38 to 83 Left: Martin Vorster is presented with the DNi Tour Championship trophy by Ryan Noach (left), CEO of DNi, and Rob Leon, Co-CEO of Sponsors Investment Banking at RMB. Below: Martin Vorster on his way to victory at De Zalze.
Keenan Davidse was unable to maintain the momentum of his Top-10 Order of Merit finish a year ago, and win his first tournament, but he did conjure up the best nine holes on the Sunshine Tour at Durban CC. In the second round of the Jonsson Workwear Open he birdied his opening hole, the par-5 tenth, had a 4 at the long 11th, then made seven consecutive birdies from 12 to 18 to turn in 28. He birdied the second and sixth to go 10-under but bogeyed the last for 63. Dylan Naidoo , the Investec SA Open champion at Durban CC in 2025, has had a disappointing record on the DP World Tour since that victory, and did not feature on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit this season. He’s missed as many as 19 cuts on the international circuit over the past 12 months, including in the defence of his Open trophy at Stellenbosch. His World Ranking has slipped from a high of 245 to 436. Of six players who won for the first time, M J Daffue did it at age 37 when he won the NTT Data Pro-Am at Fancourt. He concluded in style with an eagle 3 on the Montagu 18th. Daffue has mostly played in America where he attended college, and he briefly led the 2022 US Open in the second round. “This tour creates such great opportunities, and I love the different feel here,” said Daffue, coming off two dif- ficult years during which he underwent several surgeries for a bone disease in his right hand. Five weeks later, Daffue won a second HotelPlanner tournament in India, and went top of the Road to Mallorca rankings.
MARTIN VORSTER IS TOUR CHAMPION
It has been an outstanding year for South Africa’s younger talent on the Sunshine Tour, and 23-year-old Martin Vorster from Mossel Bay was the star performer of the season-ending DNi Tour Championship, claiming his long-awaited maiden tour victory at De Zalze in Stellenbosch. He was the seventh first-time winner of the 2025/26 season and took the lead in the first round with a course-record equalling 63, before going on to win with a 21-under total of 267. What delighted him most was that he had his father Waldo caddying for him on the weekend. “It was very emo- tional to have had my dad on the bag for this,” said Vorster. “It was special to win in front of all my family who had come to support me.” Vorster won R480 000 and that took him to 14th on the Courier Guy Order of Merit with earnings of R1.2 million. He played a full season of 25 tournaments, but only came to light in the second half of the summer with a series of steady performances. This was his fourth year on tour, and his previous best finish had been a second place in the MyGolfLife Open at Pecanwood in 2025.
LOWEST ROUNDS 60 Ben Follett-Smith, Fancourt Outeniqua 61 Kieran Vincent, Royal Johannesburg* 61 Christofer Blomstrand, Durban CC 62 Luis Carrera, Irene CC 62 Austin Bautista, Wild Coast 62 Jacques Kruyswijk, Devonvale 62 Warwick Purchase, Glendower 62 Karabo Mokoena, Randpark Firethorn 62 Casey Jarvis, Pezula 62 Bryce Easton, Pezula 62 Zander Lombard, Mauritius Open 62 Kieron van Wyk, Killarney 62 Pablo Ereno, Durban CC 62 B R Thompson, Houghton 62 Hennie du Plessis, Houghton *On a composite East Course layout.
Jaco Prinsloo won the Gary Player Trophy for lowest stroke average awarded to the tour pro who has played a minimum of 19 tournaments.
128 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 129
MARCH/APRIL 2026
MARCH/APRIL 2026
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator