Vaughan also secured the first spot on offer to the Summer Swing winners into the $5-million HSBC Champions Tournament, to be hosted by the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai from November 9-12, 2006.

The Tour travels south to the Arabella Country Estate near Hermanus for the inaugural staging of the Coca-Cola Charity Championship, a R500,000 limited field event ahead of South Africa’s largest golf charity event, the Nelson Mandela Invitational, sponsored by Coca-Cola and hosted by nine time major winner, Gary Player.

The 54-hole Coca-Cola Charity Championship, featuring the leading 30 players from the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit after the Platinum Classic, will be played from 21 - 23 November, 2006 and the winner will earn a spot into the field of the Nelson Mandela Invitational (25 - 26 November).

World number 13, Trevor Immelman, and 2005 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner, Charl Schwartzel, will debut in the exclusive 12-man Nedbank Golf Challenge field at the Gary Player Country Club, Sun City from 30 November to 3 December.

The 26th anniversary of the Nedbank Golf Challenge heralds a couple of changes over last year, including an increased purse of $4,385,000 and official world golf ranking points, with 38 points on offer to the winner.

After Sun City, the Sunshine Tour hosts the European Tour co-sanctioned Alfred Dunhill Championship and South African Airways Open Championship in the north and south of the country, now well-established in their regular December slots ahead of the festive season break.

The magnificent Leopard Creek near Malelane will once again play host to the Alfred Dunhill Championship from 7 - 10 December, 2006, while the historic Humewood Golf Club in Port Elizabeth will stage this year’s SAA Open Championship from 14 - 17 December.

Last year, Retief Goosen held off a spirited charge from Ernie Els to win the South African Airways Open at The Links, Fancourt just a week after Els celebrated a successful return from injury with a three-shot victory at the dunhill championship.

Following the festive season break, the Summer Swing resumes with Qualifying School at Kempton Park Golf Club, from 4 - 7 January, 2007 and the International Final Qualifier-Africa at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington from 16-17 January, where professionals will compete for spots into the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Dimension Data has raised the stakes for the 12th edition of the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Sun City, increasing the purse to R1.6-million. The Pro-Am, played over the two courses, the Gary Player Country Club and Lost City Golf Course, will be held from 25 - 28 January, 2007.

In the first week of February 2007, the Tour travels to Kwazulu Natal for the Nashua Masters, in its regular slot at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club.

The Summer Swing winds down with the inaugural R2,2-million Vodacom Championship, a full field event in a new slot at the Pretoria Country Club from 15 - 18 February, 2007 and concludes with the Telkom PGA Championship at The Country Club Johannesburg from 22 - 25 February, 2007, offering an increased purse of R2,250,000.

With both co-sanctioned events offering purses of 1-million Euro each - which translates to roughly R19-million against the current exchange rate - and the substantial increases to the prize money on offer at the Dimension Data Pro-Am, Vodacom Championship and Telkom PGA Champion, the Sunshine Tour members will be playing for a total purse of over R27-million this summer, an increase of more than R5-million over last season.

Over and above the increased prize money, the Summer Swing offers the Sunshine Tour members the opportunity to qualify for the 2007 Nedbank Golf Challenge, The Open Championship, two World Golf Championships, The Alfred Dunhill Links and the HSBC Champions Tournament, as well as exemptions into qualifying schools on the leading Tours around the world.

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