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The 1988–89 Southern Africa Tour was the 18th season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.
| Duration | 7 November 1988 – 25 February 1989 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 12 |
| Most wins |  Tony Johnstone (3) |
| Order of Merit | Tony Johnstone |
← 1987–88 1989–90 → | |
With three wins and three runner-up finishes in the opening seven tournaments, the first half of the season belonged to Tony Johnstone. At the first event, the Minolta Copiers Match Play, he defeated Wayne Westner by two in the stroke play final.[1] Johnstone also won the following week at the Bloemfontein Classic.[2] He then finished runner-up at the next two events, the Safmarine South African Masters and the Goodyear Classic.[3][4] The fifth event, the Dewar's White Label Trophy, developed into a "two-man battle" between Johnstone and Bland; a birdie at the 72nd hole secured a one stroke victory for Bland.[5] Despite his third runner-up finish in succession, Johnstone had established a big lead on the money list.[6] Chris Williams won the sixth tournament, ICL International.[7] However, the next week Johnstone won his third title of the season, defeating Williams in a playoff at the Lexington PGA Championship.[8]
Americans dominated the remainder of the season. In late January, Stuart Smith won the Palabora Classic.[9] The following week at the Protea Assurance South African Open, Tom Lehman led by four stokes entering the final round.[10] However, fellow American Fred Wadsworth outplayed Lehman with a 68 on Sunday to win by one.[11] The final event of the season, the Trustbank Tournament of Champions, was won by another American, Jay Townsend.[12][13][14]
Zimbabwe's Tony Johnstone dominated the Order of Merit. During the twelve tournament season, he won three times, including the Lexington PGA Championship, had four runner-up finishes.
The following table lists official events during the 1988–89 season.[15][13][14]
| Date | Tournament | Location | Purse (R) |
Winner[lower-alpha 1] | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Nov | Minolta Copiers Match Play | Transvaal | 250,000 | Tony Johnstone (9) | 8 | |
| 19 Nov | Bloemfontein Classic | Orange Free State | 250,000 | Tony Johnstone (10) | 8 | |
| 26 Nov | Safmarine South African Masters | Cape | 250,000 |  John Bland (12) | 8 | |
| 18 Dec | Goodyear Classic | Cape | 250,000 | Trevor Dodds (1) | 8 | |
| 7 Jan | Dewar's White Label Trophy | Natal | 250,000 | John Bland (13) | 8 | New tournament |
| 14 Jan | ICL International | Transvaal | 250,000 | Chris Williams (2) | 8 | |
| 21 Jan | Lexington PGA Championship | Transvaal | 250,000 | Tony Johnstone (11) | 8 | |
| 28 Jan | Palabora Classic | Transvaal | 250,000 |  Stuart Smith (1) | 8 | |
| 4 Feb | Protea Assurance South African Open | Transvaal | 300,000 | Fred Wadsworth (1) | 16 | |
| 10 Feb | AECI Charity Classic | Transvaal | 250,000 | Jeff Hawkes (2) | 6 | |
| 19 Feb | Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic | Swaziland | 250,000 | Jeff Hawkes (3) | 6 | |
| 25 Feb | Trustbank Tournament of Champions | Transvaal | 250,000 | Jay Townsend (1) | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Dec | Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge | Transvaal | US$1,500,000 | Fulton Allem |
22 | Limited-field event |
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.[16]
| Position | Player | Prize money (R) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Johnstone | 254,950 |
| 2 | John Bland | 143,448 |
| 3 | Jeff Hawkes | 141,677 |
| 4 | Wayne Westner | 103,466 |
| 5 | Chris Williams | 100,384 |
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