1988 European Tour

The 1988 European Tour was the 17th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour. It marked the beginning of a long association for the tour with Swedish car maker Volvo, who became the tour's first official title sponsor.[1][2]

1988 European Tour season
Duration10 March 1988 (1988-03-10) – 18 December 1988 (1988-12-18)
Number of official events29
Most wins5 – Seve Ballesteros
Order of MeritSeve Ballesteros
Golfer of the YearSeve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearColin Montgomerie
← 1987
1989 →

The Order of Merit was won by Spain's Seve Ballesteros.

Schedule

The table below shows the 1988 European Tour schedule which was made up of 29 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[3] There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Open de Baleares, the Biarritz Open, the English Open and the Volvo Masters; the return of the Barcelona Open, which had been cancelled due to bad weather in 1987; and the loss of the Lawrence Batley International.[1][4] The Moroccan Open, originally scheduled to open the season, was initially postponed until October but ultimately cancelled.[5]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points[6]		 Notes
10–13 Mar Mallorca Open de Baleares Spain Seve Ballesteros (35) 20 New tournament
17–20 Mar Torras Hostench Barcelona Open Spain David Whelan (1) 18
31 Mar – 3 Apr AGF Biarritz Open France David Llewellyn (1) 16 New tournament
7–10 Apr Masters Tournament United States Sandy Lyle (14) 100 Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
14–17 Apr Cannes Open France Mark McNulty (7) 20
21–24 Apr Cepsa Madrid Open Spain Derrick Cooper (1) 22
28 Apr – 1 May Portuguese Open Portugal Mike Harwood (1) 18
5–8 May Epson Grand Prix of Europe Wales Bernhard Langer (19) 40
12–15 May Peugeot Spanish Open Spain Mark James (9) 38
19–22 May Lancia Italian Open Italy Greg Norman (12) 24
27–30 May Volvo PGA Championship England Ian Woosnam (9) 44
2–5 Jun Dunhill British Masters England Sandy Lyle (15) 42
9–12 Jun Wang Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity England Rodger Davis (3) 20
16–19 Jun U.S. Open United States Curtis Strange (n/a) 100 Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
16–19 Jun Volvo Belgian Open Belgium José María Olazábal (3) 16
23–26 Jun Peugeot Open de France France Nick Faldo (14) 40
29 Jun – 2 Jul Monte Carlo Open Monaco José Rivero (3) 24
6–9 Jul Bell's Scottish Open Scotland Barry Lane (1) 44
14–17 Jul The Open Championship England Seve Ballesteros (36) 100 Major championship
21–24 Jul KLM Dutch Open Netherlands Mark Mouland (2) 34
28–31 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Seve Ballesteros (37) 34
4–7 Aug Benson and Hedges International Open England Peter Baker (1) 38
11–14 Aug PGA Championship United States Jeff Sluman (n/a) 100 Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
11–14 Aug PLM Open Sweden Frank Nobilo (1) 16
18–21 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Republic of Ireland Ian Woosnam (10) 42
25–28 Aug German Open West Germany Seve Ballesteros (38) 38
1–4 Sep Ebel European Masters Swiss Open Switzerland Chris Moody (1) 44
8–11 Sep Panasonic European Open England Ian Woosnam (11) 42
15–18 Sep Lancome Trophy France Seve Ballesteros (39) 46
22–25 Sep German Masters West Germany José María Olazábal (4) 44
29 Sep – 2 Oct English Open England Howard Clark (11) 16 New tournament
6–10 Oct Suntory World Match Play England Sandy Lyle (n/a) 32 Approved Special Event
3–6 Mar
6–9 Oct		 Moroccan Open Morocco Cancelled
13–16 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland England n/a Approved Special Event; team event
17–18 Oct Equity & Law Challenge England Ronan Rafferty (n/a) Approved Special Event
20–23 Oct BNP Jersey Open Jersey Des Smyth (6) 16
24–27 Oct UAP European Under-25s Championship France Jean van de Velde (n/a) n/a Approved Special Event
27–30 Oct Volvo Masters Spain Nick Faldo (15) 44 New tournament
3–6 Nov Europcar Cup France Sweden n/a Approved Special Event; team event
10–13 Nov Benson & Hedges Trophy Spain Mark McNulty & Marie-Laure Taya n/a Approved Special Event; mixed pairs event
8–11 Dec World Cup Australia United States n/a Approved Special Event; team event
World Cup International Trophy Ben Crenshaw (n/a) n/a Approved Special Event; individual prize
15–18 Dec Kirin Cup United States United States n/a Approved Special Event; team event
  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 retrospecively. 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.[2]

PositionPlayerCountryPrize money (£)
1Seve Ballesteros Spain451,560
2Nick Faldo England347,971
3José María Olazábal Spain285,964
4Ian Woosnam Wales234,991
5Sandy Lyle Scotland186,018
6Mark McNulty Zimbabwe180,992
7Des Smyth Ireland171,951
8Mark James England152,900
9Ronan Rafferty Northern Ireland132,395
10José Rivero Spain131,079

Awards
AwardWinnerCountry
European Tour Golfer of the YearSeve Ballesteros Spain
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearColin Montgomerie Scotland

See also

References
  1. Davies, David (1 December 1987). "Rich pickings for Europe's Volvo drivers". The Guardian. London, England. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  3. Platts, Mitchell (1 December 1987). "Shooting for £10m in the rosy tour garden of Europe". The Times. p. 42. Retrieved 26 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  4. "At last! English get their own Open". Irish Independent. 26 January 1988. p. 15. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "Sport in brief | Open closed". The Times. 12 September 1988. p. 38. Retrieved 26 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  6. "Events | European Tour | 1988". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.