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1978–79 Southern Africa Tour

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1978–79 Southern Africa Tour season
Duration1 November 1978 (1978-11-01) – 7 February 1979 (1979-02-07)
Number of official events8
Most winsSouth Africa Dale Hayes (2)
South Africa Simon Hobday (2)
Order of MeritSouth Africa Hugh Baiocchi

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

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Simon Hobday was the top player early in the season. At the inaugural event, the Rhodesian Dunlop Masters, he was victorious.[1] 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.[2] He went on the win the event.[3]

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.[4] The following week Hayes defeated Britz in a playoff at the Kronenbrau Masters.[5] Britz won the Kalahari Classic the week after, however.[6] Baiocchi went on to win the Order of Merit.[7]

Schedule

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The following table lists official events during the 1978–79 season.[8][9][10][11]

Date Tournament Location Purse
(R)
Winner[a] Notes
4 Nov Rhodesian Dunlop Masters Rhodesia Rh$14,000 South Africa Simon Hobday (1)
11 Nov Victoria Falls Classic Rhodesia 35,000 South Africa Simon Hobday (2)
18 Nov ICL International Transvaal 35,000 South Africa Dale Hayes (13)
2 Dec Lexington PGA Championship Transvaal 50,000 United States Hale Irwin (n/a)
9 Dec Yellow Pages South African Open Cape 45,000 South Africa Hugh Baiocchi (7)
15 Dec Kronenbrau Masters Cape 30,000 South Africa Dale Hayes (14)
14 Jan Kalahari Classic Botswana 18,000 South Africa Tienie Britz (3) New tournament
7 Feb Holiday Inns Open Swaziland 20,000 South Africa John Bland (4)

Order of Merit

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The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[7]

Position Player Prize money (R)
1 South Africa Hugh Baiocchi 19,804

Notes

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  1. ^ 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.

References

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  1. ^ "1978 Rhodesian Dunlop Masters". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Golfers out to brave course with teeth". Birmingham Evening Mail. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 8 November 1978. p. 34. Retrieved 12 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Steel, Donald (12 November 1978). "World-wide harvest". The Sunday Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 12 September 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Graham rallies for victory in Mexico Cup golf". The Montreal Gazette. Montreal, Canada. 11 December 1978. p. 38. Retrieved 12 September 2023 – via Google News Archive. South African Open
  5. ^ "Sport in brief". The Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, United Kingdom. 16 December 1978. p. 15. Retrieved 12 September 2023 – via Google News Archive. Dale Hayes won the Cape Open Golf Tournament in a sudden death play-off...
  6. ^ "1979 Kalahari Classic". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  7. ^ a b Berkovitz, Anton; Samson, Andrew (1993). South Africa and international sports factfinder. D. Nelson. p. 96. ISBN 1868061019. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  8. ^ "1978/79 Tournament schedule". Sunshine Tour. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  9. ^ McCormack, Mark H. (1979). Dunhill Golf Yearbook 1979. Doubleday. pp. 216–224, 370–375. ISBN 0385149409. Retrieved 8 November 2023 – via Archive.org.
  10. ^ McCormack, Mark H. (1980). Dunhill Golf Yearbook 1980. Springwood Books. pp. 193–204, 364–370. ISBN 0905947835.
  11. ^ Simms, George (1979). World of Golf 1979. Macdonald and Jane's. pp. 151–154. ISBN 0354090690. Retrieved 17 September 2024 – via Archive.org.
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