1978–79 Southern Africa Tour

{{Infobox golf season

| year = 1978–79

| tour = Southern Africa Tour

| image =

| pixels =

| caption =

| regular_season = {{start date|1978|11|1|df=y}} – {{end date|1979|2|7|df=y}}

| no_of_events = 8

| most_wins = {{flagicon|ZAF|1928}} Dale Hayes (2)
{{flagicon|ZAF|1928}} Simon Hobday (2)

| honor1 = Order of Merit

| honoree1 = {{flagicon|ZAF|1928}} Hugh Baiocchi

| honor2 =

| honoree2 =

| honor3 =

| honoree3 =

| honor4 =

| honoree4 =

| prevseason = 1977–78

| nextseason = 1979–80

}}

The 1978–79 Southern Africa Tour was the eighth season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

Season outline

Simon Hobday was the top player early in the season. At the inaugural event, the Rhodesian Dunlop Masters, he was victorious.{{Cite web |title=1978 Rhodesian Dunlop Masters |url=https://sunshinetour.info/tic/tmresult.cgi?tourn=RHDM~result=PF~dc=N~cardlink=Y~~season=179S~style=00~groupties=Y~pr=N~textout=N~bordersize=1~fontsize=*~winfocus=Y~ |access-date=2023-09-12 |publisher=Sunshine Tour}} The following event, the Victoria Falls Classic, also held in Rhodesia, was being played in the middle of the Rhodesian Bush War. Hobday tried to recruit a number of top European players to play in the event but was not successful.{{Cite news |title=Golfers out to brave course with teeth |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/858479956/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-09-12 |newspaper=Birmingham Evening Mail |location=Birmingham, United Kingdom |date=8 November 1978 |page=34 |via=Newspapers.com}} He went on the win the event.{{Cite news |title=World-wide harvest |first=Donald |last=Steel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/750623242/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-09-12 |date=12 November 1978 |newspaper=The Sunday Telegraph |location=London, United Kingdom |via=Newspapers.com}}

South Africans Dale Hayes, Hugh Baiocchi, and Tienie Britz were the top players later in the season. In the third event, the ICL International, Hayes defeated Baiocchi in a playoff. At the fifth tournament, Baiocchi won the Yellow Pages South African Open by one shot.{{cite news |title=Graham rallies for victory in Mexico Cup golf |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xX0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5aEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7259%2C1941612 |access-date=2023-09-12 |newspaper=The Montreal Gazette |location=Montreal, Canada |date=11 December 1978 |page=38 |via=Google News Archive |quote=South African Open}} The following week Hayes defeated Britz in a playoff at the Kronenbrau Masters.{{cite news |title=Sport in brief |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LMFAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5qUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4614%2C3900362 |access-date=2023-09-12 |newspaper=The Glasgow Herald |location=Glasgow, United Kingdom |date=16 December 1978 |page=15 |via=Google News Archive |quote=Dale Hayes won the Cape Open Golf Tournament in a sudden death play-off...}} Britz won the Kalahari Classic the week after, however.{{Cite web |title=1979 Kalahari Classic |url=https://sunshinetour.info/tic/tmresult.cgi?tourn=FNBB~result=PF~dc=N~cardlink=Y~~season=179S~style=00~groupties=Y~pr=N~textout=N~bordersize=1~fontsize=*~winfocus=Y~ |access-date=2023-09-12 |publisher=Sunshine Tour}} Baiocchi went on to win the Order of Merit.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1978–79 season.{{cite web |url=https://sunshinetour.info/tic/tmtic.cgi?ticformat=4~archives=y~season=179S~style=00~groupties=Y~pr=N~textout=N~bordersize=1~fontsize=*~winfocus=Y~ |title=1978/79 Tournament schedule |publisher=Sunshine Tour |access-date=12 September 2023}}{{cite book |title=Dunhill Golf Yearbook 1979 |first=Mark H. |last=McCormack |author-link=Mark McCormack |publisher=Doubleday |date=1979 |isbn=0385149409 |url=https://archive.org/details/dunhillgolfyearb0000unse_a9z2 |pages=216–224, 370–375 |via=Archive.org |access-date=8 November 2023 |url-access=limited}}{{cite book |title=Dunhill Golf Yearbook 1980 |first=Mark H. |last=McCormack |author-link=Mark McCormack |publisher=Springwood Books |date=1980 |isbn=0905947835 |pages=193–204, 364–370}}{{cite book |title=World of Golf 1979 |first=George |last=Simms |publisher=Macdonald and Jane's |date=1979 |isbn=0354090690 |pages=151–154 |url=https://archive.org/details/bwb_KP-645-582 |access-date=17 September 2024 |via=Archive.org}}

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%" !Date !Tournament !Location !Purse (R) !Winner{{efn\|name=totals\|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.}} !Notes
4 Nov	Rhodesian Dunlop Masters	Rhodesia	align=right\|Rh$14,000	{{flagicon\|ZAF\|1928}} Simon Hobday (1)
11 Nov	Victoria Falls Classic	Rhodesia	align=right\|35,000	{{flagicon\|ZAF\|1928}} Simon Hobday (2)
18 Nov	ICL International	Transvaal	align=right\|35,000	{{flagicon\|ZAF\|1928}} Dale Hayes (13)
2 Dec	Lexington PGA Championship	Transvaal	align=right\|50,000	{{flagicon\|USA}} Hale Irwin (n/a)
9 Dec	Yellow Pages South African Open	Cape	align=right\|45,000	{{flagicon\|ZAF\|1928}} Hugh Baiocchi (7)
15 Dec	Kronenbrau Masters	Cape	align=right\|30,000	{{flagicon\|ZAF\|1928}} Dale Hayes (14)
14 Jan	Kalahari Classic	Botswana	align=right\|18,000	{{flagicon\|ZAF\|1928}} Tienie Britz (3)	New tournament
7 Feb	Holiday Inns Open	Swaziland	align=right\|20,000	{{flagicon\|ZAF\|1928}} John Bland (4)

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.{{cite book |title=South Africa and international sports factfinder |first1=Anton |last1=Berkovitz |first2=Andrew |last2=Samson |publisher=D. Nelson |date=1993 |isbn=1868061019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XH8wAQAAIAAJ |page=96 |access-date=13 September 2023}}

class=wikitable

!Position!!Player!!Prize money (R)

align=center|1

{{flagicon|ZAF|1928}} Hugh Baiocchi

align=center|19,804

Notes

References

External links

{{official site|http://sunshinetour.com/}}

Category:Sunshine Tour seasons

Southern Africa Tour