1996 European Tour

The 1996 European Tour was the 25th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour.[1]

1996 European Tour season
Duration25 January 1996 (1996-01-25) – 5 January 1997 (1997-01-05)
Number of official events38
Most wins3 – Robert Allenby, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam
Order of MeritColin Montgomerie
Golfer of the YearColin Montgomerie
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearThomas Bjørn
← 1995
1997 →

The 1996 season saw co-sanctioning arrangements expand, with the PGA Tour of Australasia's Heineken Classic joining three Southern Africa Tour events on the schedule.

The Order of Merit was won by Scotland's Colin Montgomerie for the fourth consecutive year.

Schedule

The table below shows the 1996 European Tour schedule which was made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[2][3][4] There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Heineken Classic, the Dimension Data Pro-Am and the Loch Lomond World Invitational; and the loss of the Turespaña Open De Canaria and the Open de Baleares. Soon after the schedule was announced, a third Southern Africa Tour event was added, the FNB Players Championship.[5]

In January, the Jersey Open was moved onto the European Senior Tour schedule and the Open Mediterrania was replaced by the Catalan Open.[6] In February, a new tournament in Spain, the Oki Pro-Am was added opposite the Dunhill Cup.[7] In March, the Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge was added to the schedule, taking the dates vacated by the Jersey Open, opposite the U.S. Open.[8]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points[9]		 Notes
25–28 Jan Johnnie Walker Classic Singapore Ian Woosnam (25) 42 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
1–4 Feb Heineken Classic Australia Ian Woosnam (26) 34 New tournament; co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
8–11 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am South Africa Mark McNulty (13) 30 New tournament; co-sanctioned with the Southern Africa Tour
15–18 Feb Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship South Africa Sven Strüver (1) 22 Co-sanctioned with the Southern Africa Tour
22–25 Feb FNB Players Championship South Africa Wayne Westner (2) 28 New tournament; co-sanctioned with the Southern Africa Tour
29 Feb – 3 Mar Turespaña Open Mediterrania Spain Cancelled
29 Feb – 3 Mar Catalan Open Spain Paul Lawrie (1) 20
7–10 Mar Moroccan Open Morocco Peter Hedblom (1) 26
14–17 Mar Dubai Desert Classic United Arab Emirates Colin Montgomerie (10) 36
21–24 Mar Portuguese Open Portugal Wayne Riley (2) 20
28–31 Mar Madeira Island Open Portugal Jarmo Sandelin (2) 20
11–14 Apr Masters Tournament United States Nick Faldo (30) 100 Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
18–21 Apr Air France Cannes Open France Raymond Russell (1) 20
25–28 Apr Turespaña Masters Spain Diego Borrego (1) 26
2–5 May Conte of Florence Italian Open Italy Jim Payne (2) 24
9–12 May Peugeot Spanish Open Spain Pádraig Harrington (1) 32
16–19 May Benson and Hedges International Open England Stephen Ames (2) 44
24–27 May Volvo PGA Championship England Costantino Rocca (3) 64 Flagship event
30 May – 2 Jun Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe Germany Frank Nobilo (5) 38
6–9 Jun Alamo English Open England Robert Allenby (2) 30
13–16 Jun U.S. Open United States Steve Jones (n/a) 100 Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
13–16 Jun Jersey Open Jersey Cancelled Opposite the U.S. Open
13–16 Jun Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge England Retief Goosen (1) 20 New tournament; opposite the U.S. Open
20–23 Jun BMW International Open Germany Marc Farry (1) 20
27–30 Jun Peugeot Open de France France Robert Allenby (3) 40
4–7 Jul Murphy's Irish Open Republic of Ireland Colin Montgomerie (11) 40
10–13 Jul Scottish Open Scotland Ian Woosnam (27) 42
18–21 Jul The Open Championship England Tom Lehman (n/a) 100 Major championship
25–28 Jul Sun Microsystems Dutch Open Netherlands Mark McNulty (14) 28
1–4 Aug Volvo Scandinavian Masters Sweden Lee Westwood (1) 32
8–11 Aug PGA Championship United States Mark Brooks (n/a) 100 Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
8–11 Aug Hohe Brucke Open Austria Paul McGinley (1) 20 Opposite the PGA Championship
15–18 Aug Chemapol Trophy Czech Open Czech Republic Jonathan Lomas (1) 20
22–25 Aug Volvo German Open Germany Ian Woosnam (28) 20
28–31 Aug One 2 One British Masters England Robert Allenby (4) 36
5–8 Sep Canon European Masters Switzerland Colin Montgomerie (12) 32
12–15 Sep Trophée Lancôme France Jesper Parnevik (3) 38
19–22 Sep Loch Lomond World Invitational Scotland Thomas Bjørn (1) 40 New tournament
26–29 Sep Smurfit European Open Republic of Ireland Per-Ulrik Johansson (3) 38
3–6 Oct Linde German Masters Germany Darren Clarke (2) 40
10–13 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland United States n/a Approved special event; team event
10–13 Oct Oki Pro-Am Spain Tom Kite (n/a) 20 New tournament; opposite the Dunhill Cup
17–20 Oct Toyota World Match Play Championship England Ernie Els (n/a) 42 Approved special event[lower-alpha 1]
17–20 Oct Open Novotel Perrier France Steven Bottomley (n/a) &
Jonathan Lomas (n/a)		 n/a Approved special event; pairs event;
opposite the Toyota World Match Play Championship
24–27 Oct Volvo Masters Spain Mark McNulty (15) 40
31 Oct – 3 Nov Sarazen World Open United States Frank Nobilo (n/a) 40 Approved special event[lower-alpha 1]
21–24 Nov World Cup of Golf South Africa South Africa n/a Approved special event; team event
World Cup of Golf International Trophy Ernie Els (n/a) n/a Approved special event; individual prize
19–22 Dec Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship Jamaica Cancelled Approved special event[lower-alpha 1]
4–5 Jan Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf United States Greg Norman (n/a) 58 Approved special event[lower-alpha 1]
  1. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names show the number of official career wins they had on the European Tour up to and including that event. Totals are only shown for members of the European Tour and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships since, although not official tour events at the time, they have been recognised as such retrospectively. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.

Order of Merit

The PGA European Tour's money list was known as the "Volvo Order of Merit". It was based on prize money earned during the season and calculated in Pound sterling.[1][10]

PositionPlayerCountryPrize money (£)
1Colin Montgomerie Scotland875,146
2Ian Woosnam Wales650,423
3Robert Allenby Australia532,143
4Costantino Rocca Italy482,585
5Mark McNulty Ireland463,847
6Lee Westwood England428,693
7Andrew Coltart Scotland345,936
8Darren Clarke Northern Ireland329,795
9Paul Broadhurst England300,364
10Thomas Bjørn Denmark292,023

Awards
AwardWinnerCountry
European Tour Golfer of the YearColin Montgomerie Scotland
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearThomas Bjørn Denmark

See also

References
  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. "1996 PGA European Tour". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeen, Scotland. 2 December 1995. p. 6. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "The Guardian sports | Highlights of the year | Golf". The Guardian. London, England. 30 December 1995. p. 15. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Hopkins, John (25 January 1996). "Business trip east marks start of European venture". The Times. London, England. p. 42. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. "An event in a world of trouble". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 25 December 1995. p. 58. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Jersey tourney goes senior". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, Scotland. 25 January 1996. p. 27. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. "New Madrid Pro-Am added to schedule". The Miami Herald. Miami, Florida. 29 February 1996. p. 1D. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Top six stars boost world match-play | Northumberland". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, Scotland. 6 March 1996. p. 26. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Events | European Tour | 1996". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  10. "Results | Golf | European Tour final Order of Merit". The Guardian. London, England. 29 October 1996. p. 24. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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