The Sunshine Tour recognised some of the standout performances from its professionals at its 2025/26 Sunshine Tour Season Awards held at the De Zalze Winelands Golf Estate on Wednesday evening.
Amongst the notable awards of the evening, Casey Jarvis received the prestigious Commissioner’s Award in recognition of his outstanding performances in winning three times on the Sunshine Tour – including the DP World Tour co-sanctioned Investec South African Open – and a further victory on the DP World Tour alone. He also finished second in the Joburg Open.
“The Commissioner’s Award is in recognition of the player who broke through and just kept on achieving. Casey did exactly this over the season. He’s a wonderful young talent and we wish him all the best as he now looks forward to playing the Majors as well,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.
Herman Loubser won the Players’ Player of the Year Award, while Shaun Norris was honoured with the Sportsman of the Year Award, and Hennie Otto received the Executive Director’s Award for his longevity on the Sunshine Tour.
Loubser was recognised by his fellow professionals for a season in which he won on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series and had a further four top-five finishes in what has been his most successful season on the Tour.
“I wasn’t expecting this. When other players vote for you and they recognise how much work it takes and how hard it is to perform, it really is special to receive that,” he said.
Norris received the Sportsman of the Year Award for his act of sportsmanship during his playoff with Jayden Schaper in December’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, when he applauded Schaper’s brilliant fairway bunker shot onto the green in the playoff.
“We all strive to win tournaments, and here was a youngster with all the talent in the world who had a wonderful year leading up to that event. It’s hard to win, so for him in that position, to pull off a shot like that, I just felt it deserved an applause. I was amazed by the shot, so I just felt like congratulating him for even pulling it off, and then making the putt on top of it. He did everything correctly and he pulled it off, so for me it was just a case of knowing what it feels like to go through that and to try and win a tournament, which is not easy. I was very happy for him to pull that off,” said Norris.
Otto was recognised for his incredible longevity in a career that started on the Sunshine Tour in 1999 and which has seen him win multiple titles here and on the DP World Tour.
“The Sunshine Tour gave me opportunities and from there I was able to play on the HotelPlanner Tour and DP World Tour. I want to thank the Tour for where I am now. And to the younger professionals, I’d like to say please realise the opportunities you get through the Sunshine Tour to achieve your higher goals in the game,” said Otto.
In other awards, Daniel van Tonder received the Best Finish to Win Award for his phenomenal closing stretch of two birdies and an eagle to win the Serengeti Playoffs on the Courier Guy Playoffs series.
Haydn Porteous received the Comeback Player of the Year Award for winning on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series this season, his first victory on the Sunshine Tour since 2016.
And Kyle Barker received both the Media Choice Award, recognising the player who created the most engagement in promoting the Tour, and the Tour Style Award, voted by the players and recognising the individual who stood out for his overall presence on and off the golf course.
Reflecting on the significance of the awards, Abt said: “This was a wonderful celebration of our Tour and our players. We run a big Tour with roughly 30 events on our schedule, and this is a moment for the players to look back and realise they’ve done well this season.”
Issued By Michael Vlismas Media
