1976–77 Southern Africa Tour

The 1976–77 Southern Africa Tour was the sixth season of the Southern Africa Tour, the main professional golf tour in South Africa since it was formed in 1971.

1976–77 Southern Africa Tour season

Duration	3 November 1976 (1976-11-03) – 19 December 1976 (1976-12-19)
Number of official events	6
Most wins	Hugh Baiocchi (3)
Order of Merit	Gary Player
← 1975–76 1977–78 →

Season outline

Hugh Baiocchi and Gary Player had much success throughout the season. Player won two of the first three events and finished runner-up in the other, the Sportsman Lager PGA Championship. However, Baiocchi closed the season with three consecutive wins, including a defeat of Player at the ICL Transvaal International.

Gary Player had much success at the beginning of the season. He won the inaugural event, the Dunlop South African Masters, by four over joint runner-up Hugh Baiocchi.^[1] At the Sportsman Lager PGA Championship, the second event of the season, Player finished one shot behind champion Dale Hayes while Baiocchi finished joint third.^[2] Player went on to win the subsequent event, the Yellow Pages South African Open. This was his 10th victory of his national open beating the previous record set by Bobby Locke.^[3] However, it was Baiocchi who had the most success at the end of the season. He won the final three events, including a defeat of Player at the ICL Transvaal International.^[4][5]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1976–77 season.^[4][6]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (R)	Winner[a]	Notes
6 Nov	Dunlop South African Masters	Transvaal	25,000	Gary Player (11)
20 Nov	Sportsman Lager PGA Championship	Transvaal	50,000	Dale Hayes (12)
27 Nov	Yellow Pages South African Open	Natal	35,000	Gary Player (12)
4 Dec	Holiday Inns Invitational	Swaziland	20,000	Hugh Baiocchi (4)
11 Dec	ICL International	Transvaal	25,000	Hugh Baiocchi (5)
19 Dec	Rhodesian Dunlop Masters	Rhodesia	15,000	Hugh Baiocchi (6)

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in South African rand.^[6]

Position	Player	Prize money (R)
1	Gary Player	19,363
2	Hugh Baiocchi	18,938
3	Dale Hayes	15,470
4	Cobie Legrange	9,938
5	Bobby Verwey	8,922

Notes

1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of Southern Africa Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for Southern Africa Tour members.