1998 European Tour
| Duration | 22 January 1998 – 1 November 1998 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 38[a] |
| Most wins |  Lee Westwood (4) |
| Order of Merit |  Colin Montgomerie |
| Golfer of the Year | Lee Westwood |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Olivier Edmond |
← 1997 1999 → | |
The 1998 European Tour, titled as the 1998 PGA European Tour,[1] was the 27th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
Changes for 1998
[edit]For the first time the schedule included the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open and PGA Championship, although winnings did not count towards the Order of Merit. There were several changes from the previous season with the addition of the Qatar Masters, the return of the Belgian Open and the loss of the Dimension Data Pro-Am.
In March, the Chemapol Trophy Czech Open was cancelled in the wake of severe floods across the country in July 1997;[2] it was later replaced on the schedule by the German Open.[3] In July, the tour announced the cancellation of the Oki Pro-Am.[4]
Schedule
[edit]The following table lists official events during the 1998 season.[5][6][7]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (£) |
Winner[b] | OWGR points |
Other tours[c] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jan | Johnnie Walker Classic | Thailand | 750,000 |  Tiger Woods (n/a)
|
40 | ANZ | |
| 1 Feb | Heineken Classic | Australia | A$1,200,000 |  Thomas Bjørn (2)
|
34 | ANZ | |
| 8 Feb | South African Open | South Africa | 450,000 |  Ernie Els (6)
|
30 | AFR | |
| 15 Feb | Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship | South Africa | 400,000 |  Tony Johnstone (5)
|
36 | AFR | |
| 1 Mar | Dubai Desert Classic | UAE | US$1,300,000 |  José María Olazábal (18)
|
42 | ||
| 8 Mar | Qatar Masters | Qatar | US$1,000,000 | Andrew Coltart (1)
|
30 | New tournament | |
| 15 Mar | Moroccan Open | Morocco | 350,000 |  Stephen Leaney (1)
|
20 | ||
| 22 Mar | Portuguese Open | Portugal | 350,000 | Peter Mitchell (3)
|
20 | ||
| 12 Apr | Masters Tournament | United States | US$3,200,000 | Mark O'Meara (n/a)
|
100 | Major championship[d] | |
| 19 Apr | Cannes Open | France | 300,000 | Thomas Levet (1)
|
20 | ||
| 26 Apr | Peugeot Open de España | Spain | 550,000 | Thomas Bjørn (3)
|
28 | ||
| 3 May | Italian Open | Italy | 500,000 |  Patrik Sjöland (1)
|
22 | ||
| 10 May | Turespaña Masters Open Baleares | Spain | 350,000 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez (3)
|
20 | ||
| 17 May | Benson & Hedges International Open | England | 750,000 |  Darren Clarke (3)
|
36 | ||
| 25 May | Volvo PGA Championship | England | 1,200,000 | Colin Montgomerie (15)
|
64 | Flagship event | |
| 1 Jun | Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe | Germany | 1,100,000 | Lee Westwood (3)
|
42 | ||
| 7 Jun | National Car Rental English Open | England | 650,000 | Lee Westwood (4)
|
34 | ||
| Compaq European Grand Prix | England | – | Abandoned[e] | – | |||
| 21 Jun | Madeira Island Open | Portugal | 300,000 | Mats Lanner (3)
|
20 | ||
| 21 Jun | U.S. Open | United States | US$3,000,000 | Lee Janzen (n/a)
|
100 | Major championship[d] | |
| 28 Jun | Peugeot Open de France | France | 500,000 | Sam Torrance (21)
|
22 | ||
| 5 Jul | Murphy's Irish Open | Ireland | 1,000,000 | David Carter (1)
|
38 | ||
| 11 Jul | Standard Life Loch Lomond | Scotland | 850,000 | Lee Westwood (5)
|
42 | ||
| 19 Jul | The Open Championship | England | 1,700,000 | Mark O'Meara (n/a)
|
100 | Major championship | |
| 26 Jul | TNT Dutch Open | Netherlands | 800,000 | Stephen Leaney (2)
|
36 | ||
| 2 Aug | Volvo Scandinavian Masters | Sweden | 800,000 | Jesper Parnevik (4)
|
34 | ||
| Chemapol Trophy Czech Open | Czech Republic | – | Cancelled | – | |||
| 9 Aug | German Open | Germany | 700,000 | Stephen Allan (1)
|
20 | ||
| 16 Aug | PGA Championship | United States | US$3,000,000 |  Vijay Singh (8)
|
100 | Major championship[d] | |
| 23 Aug | Smurfit European Open | Ireland | 1,200,000 | Mathias Grönberg (2)
|
38 | ||
| 30 Aug | BMW International Open | Germany | 850,000 | Russell Claydon (1)
|
32 | ||
| 6 Sep | Canon European Masters | Switzerland | 800,000 |  Sven Strüver (3)
|
34 | ||
| 13 Sep | One 2 One British Masters | England | 750,000 | Colin Montgomerie (16)
|
34 | ||
| 20 Sep | Trophée Lancôme | France | 800,000 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez (4)
|
44 | ||
| 27 Sep | Linde German Masters | Germany | 1,000,000 | Colin Montgomerie (17)
|
40 | ||
| 4 Oct | Belgacom Open | Belgium | 400,000 | Lee Westwood (6)
|
22 | ||
| Oki Pro-Am | Spain | – | Cancelled | – | |||
| 1 Nov | Volvo Masters | Spain | 1,000,000 | Darren Clarke (4)
|
42 | Tour Championship |
Unofficial events
[edit]The following events were sanctioned by the European Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (£) |
Winner(s) | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Oct | Alfred Dunhill Cup | Scotland | 1,000,000 | Team South Africa
|
n/a | Team event |
| 18 Oct | Cisco World Match Play Championship | England | 650,000 | Mark O'Meara
|
44 | Limited-field event |
| 18 Oct | Open Novotel Perrier | France | 350,000 | Olle Karlsson and Jarmo Sandelin
|
n/a | Team event |
| 8 Nov | Subaru Sarazen World Open | United States | US$2,000,000 | Dudley Hart
|
38 | |
| 22 Nov | World Cup of Golf | New Zealand | US$1,300,000 | David Carter and Nick Faldo
|
n/a | Team event |
| World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy | US$200,000 | Scott Verplank
|
n/a |
Order of Merit
[edit]The Order of Merit was titled as the Volvo Order of Merit and was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Pound sterling.[9]
| Position | Player | Prize money (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colin Montgomerie |
993,077 |
| 2 | Darren Clarke |
902,867 |
| 3 | Lee Westwood |
814,386 |
| 4 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez |
518,819 |
| 5 | Patrik Sjöland |
500,137 |
| 6 | Thomas Bjørn |
470,798 |
| 7 | José María Olazábal |
449,132 |
| 8 | Ernie Els |
433,884 |
| 9 | Andrew Coltart |
388,816 |
| 10 | Mathias Grönberg |
358,779 |
Awards
[edit]| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Lee Westwood |
[10] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Olivier Edmond |
[11] |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ A further three tournaments were scheduled but were either cancelled or abandoned.
- ^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of European Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for European Tour members and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998, with earlier editions having retrospectively been recognised as official tour wins.
- ^ AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.
- ^ a b c Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
- ^ Tournament abandoned due to persistent bad weather.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ "Czech Open cancelled". The Irish Times. 19 March 1998. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
- ^ "In brief | Golf switch". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 20 March 1998. p. 38. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Smith, Colm (29 July 1998). "KO for the OKI pro-am". Irish Independent. Dublin, Ireland. p. 25. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "1998 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "Scoreboard | Golf | 1998 European schedule". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 25 September 1997. p. 45. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Davies, David (21 January 1998). "Faldo Ready for the year of the Tiger". The Guardian. London, England. p. 23. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Webb, Mel (15 June 1998). "Rain check costs Stewart dear". The Times. London, England. p. 42. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ Hopkins, John (2 November 1998). "Montgomerie hits his rivals for six". The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 26. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "Lee's predicting Major joy for Faldo". Lincolnshire Echo. Lincoln, United Kingdom. 15 December 1998. p. 27. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
This season's European Golfer of the Year...
- ^ Britten, Michael (18 November 1998). "Rose attempts to blossom again". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. p. 29. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
The Frenchman Olivier Edmond has become the 34th recipient of the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award on the European Tour.