# 1989–90 Southern Africa Tour

The 1989–90 Southern Africa Tour was the 19th season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

## Season outline

A variety of local golfers had success at the beginning of the season. South African Des Terblanche won the inaugural event, the Railfreight Bloemfontein Classic. It was his first victory on his home tour. The next tournament was the Minolta Copiers Match Play, a medal match play event, held at Sun City Golf Course. In the quarterfinals, Fulton Allem tied the course record with a 65 to defeat competitor Hugh Baiocchi. In the following two rounds Allem defeated "[t]ournament favourite" David Frost and John Bland to win the event. Frost, however, came back and won the next event, the unofficial Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge. Baiocchi, meanwhile, won the next official tournament on the calendar, the Twee Jonge Gezellen Masters. In mid-January, the Lexington PGA Championship was held, hosted by Wanderers Golf Course. Allem opened with a course record 61 to take the lead. He would go on to win the event.
In the middle of the season, a newly turned professional from America named John Daly had much success. Daly won the seventh tournament of the year, AECI Charity Classic by one over Northern Irishman David Feherty. Two weeks later, Daly won again at the Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic defeating South African John Bland by two strokes.
At the end of the season, there was a three-horse race to win the Order of Merit between Bland, the leader, with Wayne Westner directly behind him, and Tony Johnstone in third. The top two would receive automatic entries in the 1990 Open Championship. Bland won the 11th event of the season, the Dewar's White Label Trophy, "to clinch the circuit Order of Merit title."

## Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1989–90 season.
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) | Winner | OWGR points | Notes |
| 18 Nov | Railfreight Bloemfontein Classic | Orange Free State | 250,000 | Des Terblanche (1) | 8 | |
| 24 Nov | Minolta Copiers Match Play | Transvaal | 250,000 | Fulton Allem (6) | 8 | |
| 17 Dec | Twee Jonge Gezellen Masters | Cape | 250,000 | Hugh Baiocchi (11) | 8 | |
| 13 Jan | ICL International | Transvaal | 250,000 | Gavan Levenson (5) | 8 | |
| 20 Jan | Lexington PGA Championship | Transvaal | 250,000 | Fulton Allem (7) | 8 | |
| 27 Jan | Protea Assurance South African Open | Transvaal | 280,000 | Trevor Dodds (2) | 8 | |
| 3 Feb | AECI Charity Classic | Transvaal | 250,000 | John Daly (1) | 8 | |
| 10 Feb | Goodyear Classic | Cape | 250,000 | Philip Jonas (1) | 8 | |
| 18 Feb | Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Swaziland | 250,000 | John Daly (2) | 8 | |
| 24 Feb | Palabora Classic | Transvaal | 250,000 | Tony Johnstone (12) | 8 | |
| 3 Mar | Dewar's White Label Trophy | Natal | 250,000 | John Bland (14) | 8 | |
| 10 Mar | Trustbank Tournament of Champions | Transvaal | 250,000 | Trevor Dodds (3) | 8 | Tour Championship |

### 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 |
| 10 Dec | Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge | Transvaal | US$2,500,000 | David Frost | 14 | Limited-field event |

## Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.
| Position | Player | Prize money (R) |
| 1 | John Bland | 180,893 |
| 2 | Wayne Westner | 135,094 |
| 3 | Trevor Dodds | 133,359 |
| 4 | John Daly | 123,704 |
| 5 | Tony Johnstone | 119,225 |