The SDC Championship marks the first of two back-to-back co-sanctioned events with the Sunshine Tour on the DP World Tour schedule in 2023.
The partnership between the two Tours has helped play an integral role in the development of many South African players, including a raft of Major Champions and proven DP World Tour winners.
Ahead of the 2022 DP World Tour season, JC Ritchie became the first player to secure full playing privileges on the DP World Tour by finishing as the leading player, not otherwise exempt, on the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit.
Last year, Daniel van Tonder, Tristen Strydom and Wilco Nienaber benefited from a new exemption for the leading three players, not otherwise exempt, from the 2022 Sunshine Tour rankings.
As St Francis Links prepares to host the fifth of six co-sanctioned events between the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour, we look at three players who have topped the latter’s Order of Merit and how their careers have progressed.
George Coetzee
Made his DP World Tour debut at the South African Open as a 19-year-old amateur in 2005. After turning professional in 2007, he joined the Sunshine Tour and went on to claim his first professional title in his rookie season at the Vodacom Origins of Golf – Selborne. He secured his DP World Tour card for the 2010 season through the Qualifying School but lost it later that year. After regaining his playing privileges through Qualifying School for the 2011 campaign, he narrowly missed out on a maiden DP World Tour title at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles as he lost to Thomas Bjørn in a play-off. Three other top-five finishes would help him secure a maiden appearance at the DP World Tour Championship. In 2012, he broke into the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time after a runner-up finish at the SA Open Championship. He claimed his maiden DP World Tour title on home soil at the Joburg Open, coming back from four shots adrift in the final round to win. Two titles in the space of three months in 2015 at the Tshwane Open and the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open helped him to win the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit that season. Three years later he won the Tshwane Open for a second time before his first DP World Tour win in mainland Europe came at the 2020 Portugal Masters. Since then, a third-place finish at the Cazoo Open de France last September has been the closest he has come to adding to those wins.
Brandon Stone
The 29-year-old is no stranger to success, with three DP World Tour wins to his name since he graduated from the European Challenge Tour in 2015. His breakthrough success came early in 2016, winning the South African Open on his 27th start on the DP World Tour. He added another later that year, again on home soil, by recording a seven-shot victory at the Alfred Dunhill Championship as he finished top of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit. His biggest achievement to date remains his victory at the Scottish Open in 2018. A final round of 60 – where he missed a birdie chance on the last to card a 59 – saw him claim his third DP World Tour win and first Rolex Series title. A near three-year absence from the winner’s circle followed before he won his first Challenge Tour title at the Limpopo Challenge in a four-man play-off in 2021. Since losing his full playing privileges on the DP World Tour at the end of the 2022 season, he has registered four top tens on the Challenge Tour this year to sit ninth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings.
Zander Lombard
After turning professional in 2014, he initially struggled to acclimatise to the professional game, making just one cut from 12 events across the European Challenge Tour and DP World Tour in 2015 but far better was to come. He started 2016 with three top tens from four events, earning himself a Major Championship debut at The Open courtesy of finishing second at the Joburg Open as he established himself on Tour. He came close to a breakthrough DP World Tour title at the 2017 Rocco Forte Open but lost out to Alvaro Quiros in a play-off. A joint winner of the DP World Tour’s Qualifying School in 2018, he has since held full playing privileges for the last four years. He again narrowly missed out on his elusive first DP World Tour title at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship last month, finishing one shot behind winner Daniel Gavins in the Middle East. The 28-year-old topped his native Order of Merit in 2019 as he won the Vodacom Origins – Zebula and added three further top fives.
