| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | St Francis Bay, South Africa |
| Established | 1965 |
| Course | St Francis Links |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,192 yards (6,576 m) |
| Tour(s) | Sunshine Tour European Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | R 2,000,000 |
| Month played | September |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 259David Frost (1994) |
| To par | −28Louis Oosthuizen (2008) |
| Current champion | |
 Pieter Moolman | |
| Location map | |
TheSouth African PGA Championship is one of the most prestigious golf tournaments on theSunshine Tour. It has most recently been played in September, with a prize fund ofR 2,000,000. It is currently held at St Francis Links inSt Francis Bay.
The current South African PGA Championship was founded in 1965, largely thanks toGary Player andBrian Henning. The inaugural event was held in February 1965 and was won byHarold Henning who beat Player by 3 strokes.[1]
New sponsors in 1972 gave the championship a home atThe Wanderers Golf Club where it remained until 1995,[2] when it became the first tournament in South Africa to be co-sanctioned by theEuropean Tour. The following year Alfred Dunhill took over from Lexington as title sponsors, breaking a 23-year association with the PGA.
Following the 1999 event, Dunhill decided to end their association with the South African PGA and create their own tournament, theAlfred Dunhill Championship, which also replaced the PGA Championship on the European calendar. As a result, there was no PGA Championship held in 2000, but the tournament returned to the Sunshine Tour the following year with a new sponsor. It is one of the richest sole-sanctioned events on the Sunshine Tour.
The South African PGA Championship, along with theSouth African Open and theSouth African Masters formed the Triple Crown of South African golf. Winning all three titles in the same season is a feat only achieved byGary Player andErnie Els.[3]
