The South African Masters was one of the most prestigious

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

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 South African Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the Vod ...

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

rand The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

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

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

border,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. 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, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In stroke play, the winner is the player who has taken the fewest strokes over the ...

event in 1960. The first edition of the new Dunlop Masters, at Houghton Golf Club in 1960, was won by

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (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 tou ...

with an aggregate score of 266, a record that stood for 44 years. Player's total was equalled in 1970 by

John Fourie Jonathan Adriaan Fourie (born 23 August 1939) is a South African professional golfer. Fourie was born in Johannesburg. He turned professional in 1970 and spent his career playing mainly on the Southern Africa Tour and the European Tour. He won ...

, 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 T ...

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 and Sunshine Tours. Early life Fichardt was born in Pretoria and grew up in Centurion, Gauteng. He attended Sutherland High School f ...

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 is generally played in February, depending on the Tour Schedule, with a prize fund of 2 million rand, and is currently held at Eye of Afri ...

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 known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands ) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victor ...

Winners

References

External links

Sunshine Tour
- official site Former Sunshine Tour events Golf tournaments in South Africa {{golf-tournament-stub