1992–93 Southern Africa Tour
Golf tour season
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The 1992–93 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1992–93 FNB Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 22nd season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.
Ernie Els (2)
Mark McNulty| Duration | 19 December 1992 – 28 February 1993 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 9 |
| Most wins | Ernie Els (2) |
| Order of Merit | Mark McNulty |
← 1991–92 1993–94 → | |
FNB title sponsorship
It was the first season in which the tour had signed a title sponsorship agreement with First National Bank, being renamed as the FNB Tour.[1]
Season outline
A handful of top golfers dominated the first part of the season. Ernie Els won the first event of the season, the FNB Players Championship, by four shots over Mark McNulty.[2] David Frost won the next event, the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge with Els finishing joint third.[3] Els returned with a victory at the next official event, the Goodyear Classic, by two shots over Retief Goosen.[4] Fijian Vijay Singh won the first event after the Christmas break, the Bell's Cup, defeating McNulty by two shots.[5] McNulty, however, came back and won the following week at the Lexington PGA Championship by one shot over a number of players, including Nick Price.[6] At the fifth official tournament, the Mount Edgecombe Trophy, Goosen won his first event of the season, defeating runner-up Price by five shots.[7] Price returned with a victory the following week at the ICL International.[8]
In the later part of the season, a number of less notable players defeated the top performers. At the seventh event, the Philips South African Open, Clinton Whitelaw was victorious by two shots over Goosen.[9] The following week, at the Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic, Sean Pappas defeated Els in a playoff.[10] At the final event of the season, the EVS South African Masters, Zimbabwean Tony Johnstone defeated Roger Wessels by a shot with McNulty, Els, and Goosen all several shots back.[11]
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 1992–93 season.[12][13]
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[a] | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Nov | FNB Players Championship | Transvaal | 500,000 | Ernie Els (5) | 26 | New tournament |
| 20 Dec | Goodyear Classic | Cape | 350,000 | Ernie Els (6) | 14 | |
| 10 Jan | Bell's Cup | Cape | 450,000 |  Vijay Singh (n/a) | 26 | |
| 17 Jan | Lexington PGA Championship | Transvaal | 500,000 | Mark McNulty (22) | 26 | |
| 24 Jan | Mount Edgecombe Trophy | Natal | 450,000 | Retief Goosen (2) | 20 | New tournament |
| 31 Jan | ICL International | Transvaal | 450,000 | Nick Price (5) | 18 | |
| 14 Feb | Philips South African Open | Transvaal | 500,000 | Clinton Whitelaw (1) | 18 | |
| 21 Feb | Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Swaziland | 350,000 | Sean Pappas (1) | 14 | |
| 28 Feb | EVS South African Masters | Transvaal | 550,000 | Tony Johnstone (13) | 18 |
Unofficial events
The following events were sanctioned by the Southern Africa Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Dec | Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge | Transvaal | US$2,500,000 | David Frost |
52 | Limited-field event |
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[14]
| Position | Player | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark McNulty | 250,079 |
| 2 | Ernie Els | 222,496 |
| 3 | Retief Goosen | 204,289 |
| 4 | Nick Price | 170,450 |
| 5 | Roger Wessels | 128,843 |
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.