The 1992–93 Southern Africa Tour, titled as the 1992–93 FNB Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 22nd season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.
FNB title sponsorship It was the first season in which the tour had signed a title sponsorship agreement with First National Bank, being renamed as the FNB Tour.
Season outline A handful of top golfers dominated the first part of the season. Ernie Els won the first event of the season, the FNB Players Championship, by four shots over Mark McNulty. David Frost won the next event, the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge with Els finishing joint third. Els returned with a victory at the next official event, the Goodyear Classic, by two shots over Retief Goosen. Fijian Vijay Singh won the first event after the Christmas break, the Bell's Cup, defeating McNulty by two shots. McNulty, however, came back and won the following week at the Lexington PGA Championship by one shot over a number of players, including Nick Price. At the fifth official tournament, the Mount Edgecombe Trophy, Goosen won his first event of the season, defeating runner-up Price by five shots. Price returned with a victory the following week at the ICL International.
In the later part of the season, a number of less notable players defeated the top performers. At the seventh event, the Philips South African Open, Clinton Whitelaw was victorious by two shots over Goosen. The following week, at the Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic, Sean Pappas defeated Els in a playoff. At the final event of the season, the EVS South African Masters, Zimbabwean Tony Johnstone defeated Roger Wessels by a shot with McNulty, Els, and Goosen all several shots back.
Schedule The following table lists official events during the 1992–93 season.
DateTournamentLocationPurse(R)WinnerOWGRpointsNotes 22 Nov FNB Players Championship Transvaal 500,000 Ernie Els (5) 26 New tournament 20 Dec Goodyear Classic Cape 350,000 Ernie Els (6) 14 10 Jan Bell's Cup Cape 450,000 Vijay Singh (n/a) 26 17 Jan Lexington PGA Championship Transvaal 500,000 Mark McNulty (22) 26 24 Jan Mount Edgecombe Trophy Natal 450,000 Retief Goosen (2) 20 New tournament 31 Jan ICL International Transvaal 450,000 Nick Price (5) 18 14 Feb Philips South African Open Transvaal 500,000 Clinton Whitelaw (1) 18 21 Feb Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic Swaziland 350,000 Sean Pappas (1) 14 28 Feb EVS South African Masters Transvaal 550,000 Tony Johnstone (13) 18
Unofficial events The following events were sanctioned by the Southern Africa Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
DateTournamentLocationPurse(R)WinnerOWGRpointsNotes6 DecNedbank Million Dollar ChallengeTransvaalUS$2,500,000 David Frost52Limited-field event
Order of Merit The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.
PositionPlayerPrize money (R)1 Mark McNulty 250,0792 Ernie Els 222,4963 Retief Goosen 204,2894 Nick Price 170,4505 Roger Wessels 128,843
Notes
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