As the Sunshine Ladies Tour celebrates its 12th season in 2025, there are bold plans to create even greater opportunities for South Africa’s women professionals through world rankings status for the Tour and a season-long Order of Merit.

It’s a clear reflection of the strength of the structures in South African professional golf and the faith in the overall product by the market that the Sunshine Ladies Tour has been able to not just sustain 12 seasons but also actually grow throughout them.

This year the Sunshine Ladies Tour will feature another strong schedule of eight tournaments with increased prize money. It will once again be anchored by the two co-sanctioned events with the Ladies European Tour (LET) – the Joburg Ladies Open at Modderfontein Golf Club and the Investec South African Women’s Open at Erinvale Golf Estate.

There is also a new tournament on the schedule – the R1-million Platinum Ladies Open to be played at the Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate.

There is once again the incredible incentive for each tournament’s winner and the Investec Order of Merit champion to earn a place at the Sunshine Tour’s Waterfall City Tournament of Champions powered by Attacq, where they will have the chance to compete with the men’s professionals for a first prize of R1-million at Royal Johannesburg’s East Championship Course. The Investec Homegrown Award will also reward a South African winner of the Investec South African Women’s Open with an extra R100 000.

It all points to the incredible growth the Tour has witnessed since its birth in 2014. That inaugural season, including one tournament co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour, featured total prize money of approximately R1.6-million. This year Africa’s foremost professional golf circuit for women will offer total prize money in excess of R20-million.

According to Thomas Abt, commissioner of the Sunshine Tour and speaking on behalf of the Sunshine Ladies Tour, it’s exactly this kind of trajectory that the Tour needs to maintain and build on as part of the drive to meet its next major objective.

“There’s a strong ambition to grow the Sunshine Ladies Tour to become part of the Rolex Women’s Golf World Rankings,” he says.

“To do that we need to continue with our growth on the pathway we’re on. We need to increase prize funds and add two more tournaments to the schedule. When you look at where the prize money started in 2014 and where it is now, the growth is there.

“There are incredible sponsors and partners on the Sunshine Ladies Tour. So there is a real perception in the market of the value of women’s golf. Corporate South Africa has clearly identified this as a growth area and one of significance for their objectives.”

Apart from these obvious sectors of growth, another focus area is to continue entrenching the pathway of opportunities for Sunshine Ladies Tour professionals. This is something the Sunshine Tour has excelled at through its strategic alliances with the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, which has allowed for unprecedented numbers of South African professionals to make their way on to these major Tours. It’s a clear recipe of success for the Sunshine Ladies Tour to also follow.

The partnership between the Sunshine Tour and Sunshine Ladies Tour also continues to bear fruit.

In 2024, the leading available professionals from the Sunshine Ladies Tour competed in the Sunshine Tour’s Vodacom Origins of Golf series. They played alongside the men for the same prize money, and there was a financial incentive for the best-performing Sunshine Ladies Tour professional on the series. The leading women’s professional, Gabrielle Venter, also earned an exemption for a spot at the Joburg Ladies Open, if not already exempt.

“That’s the real benefit, through all of this – to give our women’s professional golfers more opportunities. We’re trying to create these linked opportunities and pathways for South Africa’s women professionals. The Sunshine Ladies Tour remains a great platform to showcase women’s professional golf,” says Abt.

The growth of the Sunshine Ladies Tour has certainly not gone unnoticed by some of its veteran professionals.

“I’ve been a professional for about 10 years, which is almost long as the Sunshine Ladies Tour has been going. When I started, we were playing at tournaments for R100 000. Now we’re playing at events co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour for €340 000,” says Nicole Garcia.

“You can see by the number of European players coming out how it’s grown. It’s nice to see that support. Sponsors are putting a lot of money into the Sunshine Ladies Tour and it’s very much appreciated by the women professionals,” adds Lee-Anne Pace, who dominated the first three seasons of the Sunshine Ladies Tour.

IMAGES: TRISTAN JONES/LET/TYRONE WINFIELD/TROY WINFIELD/SUNSHINE TOUR