The Africa Open was a golf tournament on the Sunshine Tour held in Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was first contested in February 2008, over the Gary Player designed championship course at the Fish River Sun Country Club, near Port Alfred.[1]

Africa Open
Tournament information
LocationEastern Cape, South Africa
Established2008
Course(s)East London Golf Club
Par71
Length6,616 yards (6,050 m)
Tour(s)Sunshine Tour
European Tour
FormatStroke play
Prize fundR 14,500,000
Month playedFebruary
Final year2015
Tournament record score
Aggregate264 Thomas Aiken (2014)
264 Trevor Fisher Jnr (2015)
To par−27 Louis Oosthuizen (2012)
Final champion
South Africa Trevor Fisher Jnr
Location map
East London GC is located in South Africa
East London GC
East London GC
Location in South Africa
East London GC is located in Eastern Cape
East London GC
East London GC
Location in Eastern Cape

In order to increase the profile of the tournament, beginning in 2009 it was held in January at the East London Golf Club in East London. In 2009, the Africa Open had a prize fund of R5 million, over four times that of the inaugural event. The Sunshine Tour hoped that it would attract a stronger field as a result, and possibly lead to a co-sanctioning agreement with the European Tour in subsequent years.[2]

In 2009, it was announced that the Africa Open would be included on the 2010 European Tour schedule. It was the third event of the four tournament South African swing of the tour, held after the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open, and the week before the Joburg Open.[3] The purse for 2014 was 1,000,000.[citation needed]

Winners

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Year Tour(s)[a] Winner Score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
Africa Open
2015 AFR, EUR   Trevor Fisher Jnr 264 −24 5 strokes   Matt Ford
2014 AFR, EUR   Thomas Aiken 264 −20 Playoff   Oliver Fisher
2013 AFR, EUR   Darren Fichardt 272 −16 2 strokes   Grégory Bourdy
  Jaco van Zyl
2012 AFR, EUR   Louis Oosthuizen (2) 265 −27 2 strokes   Tjaart van der Walt
2011 AFR, EUR   Louis Oosthuizen 276 −16 Playoff   Manuel Quirós
  Chris Wood
2010 AFR, EUR   Charl Schwartzel 272 −20 1 stroke   Thomas Aiken
Africa Open Golf Challenge
2009 AFR   Retief Goosen 267 −21 1 stroke   Darren Clarke
  Darren Fichardt
  Branden Grace
  Michael Hoey
Africa Open
2008 AFR   Shaun Norris 275 −13 6 strokes   Nic Henning

Notes

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  1. ^ AFR − Sunshine Tour; EUR − European Tour.

References

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  1. ^ "Sunshine Tour set for Eastern Cape return with Africa Open". Sunshine Tour. 16 January 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2008.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Donald replaces Kim at Sun City". The Star. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  3. ^ "European Tour reveal early schedule". RTÉ Sport. 19 October 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
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