1989 European Tour

The 1989 European Tour, titled as the 1989 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 18th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour. It marked the tour's first visit to Asia, with the inaugural Karl Litten Desert Classic.[1]

1989 European Tour season
Duration23 February 1989 (1989-02-23) – 29 October 1989 (1989-10-29)
Number of official events33[lower-alpha 1]
Most wins4:
Nick Faldo
Volvo Order of Merit Ronan Rafferty
Golfer of the Year Nick Faldo
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Paul Broadhurst
← 1988
1990 →

The Order of Merit was won by Northern Ireland's Ronan Rafferty.

Changes for 1989

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Tenerife Open, the Dubai Desert Classic, the Volvo Open Championship, the Murphy's Cup (an approved special event), the BMW International Open and the Catalan Open, which replaced the cancelled Barcelona Open. A renewal of the Europcar Cup, a team event which debuted in 1988, was planned but was ultimately cancelled.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1989 season. The season was made up of 33 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and ten non-counting "Approved Special Events".[2][3]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)		 Winner[lower-alpha 2] OWGR
points		 Notes
26 Feb Tenerife Open Spain 200,000 José María Olazábal (5) 18 New tournament
5 Mar Karl Litten Desert Classic UAE US$450,000 Mark James (10) 18 New tournament
13 Mar Open Renault de Baleares Spain 225,000 Ove Sellberg (2) 26
19 Mar Barcelona Open Spain – Cancelled –
19 Mar Massimo Dutti Catalan Open Spain 200,000 Mark Roe (1) 18 New tournament
27 Mar AGF Open France 150,000 Mark James (11) 16
2 Apr Volvo Open Championship Italy 200,000 Vijay Singh (1) 16 New tournament
9 Apr Jersey European Airways Open Jersey 150,000 Christy O'Connor Jnr (3) 16
9 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$1,000,000 Nick Faldo (16) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
16 Apr Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open France 200,000 Paul Broadhurst (1) 14
23 Apr Cepsa Madrid Open Spain 225,000 Seve Ballesteros (40) 26
30 Apr Peugeot Spanish Open Spain 250,000 Bernhard Langer (20) 40
7 May Epson Grand Prix of Europe Matchplay Championship Wales 300,000 Seve Ballesteros (41) 40
14 May Volvo Belgian Open Belgium 200,000 Gordon J. Brand (1) 18
21 May Lancia Italian Open Italy 225,000 Ronan Rafferty (1) 36
30 May Volvo PGA Championship England 350,000 Nick Faldo (17) 64
4 Jun Dunhill British Masters England 300,000 Nick Faldo (18) 42
11 Jun Wang Four Stars England 200,000 Craig Parry (1) 18
18 Jun NM English Open England 250,000 Mark James (12) 16
18 Jun U.S. Open United States US$1,050,000 Curtis Strange (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
25 Jun Carroll's Irish Open Ireland 250,000 Ian Woosnam (12) 38
2 Jul Peugeot Open de France France 325,000 Nick Faldo (19) 46
8 Jul Torras Monte Carlo Open France 300,000 Mark McNulty (8) 24
15 Jul Bell's Scottish Open Scotland 300,000 Michael Allen (1) 46
23 Jul The Open Championship Scotland 725,000 Mark Calcavecchia (n/a) 100 Major championship
30 Jul KLM Dutch Open Netherlands 275,000 José María Olazábal (6) 40
6 Aug Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden 325,000 Ronan Rafferty (2) 32
13 Aug Benson & Hedges International Open England 300,000 Gordon Brand Jnr (7) 34
13 Aug PGA Championship United States US$1,200,000 Payne Stewart (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
20 Aug PLM Open Sweden 300,000 Mike Harwood (2) 24
27 Aug German Open West Germany 325,000 Craig Parry (2) 38
3 Sep Ebel European Masters Swiss Open Switzerland 425,000 Seve Ballesteros (42) 40
10 Sep Panasonic European Open England 350,000 Andrew Murray (1) 64
17 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 400,000 Eduardo Romero (1) 64
8 Oct German Masters West Germany 325,000 Bernhard Langer (21) 48
15 Oct BMW International Open West Germany 275,000 David Feherty (3) 22 New tournament
22 Oct Portuguese Open TPC Portugal 275,000 Colin Montgomerie (1) 18
29 Oct Volvo Masters Spain 400,000 Ronan Rafferty (3) 40

Unofficial events

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
19 Aug Murphy's Cup Wales 160,000 Hugh Baiocchi n/a New tournament
24 Sep Ryder Cup England n/a Tie ( Team Europe retain) n/a Two 12-man teams
26 Sep Equity & Law Challenge England 135,000 Brett Ogle n/a Approved Special Event
30 Sep Motorola Classic England 60,000 David Llewellyn 4
1 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland US$1,200,000 Team USA n/a Team event
1 Oct UAP European Under-25 Championship France n/a Stephen Hamill n/a
15 Oct Suntory World Match Play Championship England 325,000 Nick Faldo 36 12-player field
5 Nov Europcar Cup France – Cancelled – Team event
5 Nov Asahi Glass Four Tours World Championship Japan US$1,030,000 Team USA n/a Team event
12 Nov Benson & Hedges Trophy Spain 200,000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez and
Xonia Wunsch-Ruiz		 n/a Team event
19 Nov World Cup United States US$1,000,000 Peter Fowler and
Wayne Grady		 n/a Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy Peter Fowler n/a

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]

PositionPlayerPrize money
(£)
1 Ronan Rafferty400,311
2 José María Olazábal336,239
3 Craig Parry277,322
4 Nick Faldo261,553
5 Mark James245,917
6 Ian Woosnam210,101
7 Bernhard Langer205,195
8 Seve Ballesteros202,763
9 Mark McNulty179,694
10 David Feherty178,167

Awards
AwardWinner
European Tour Golfer of the Year Nick Faldo
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Paul Broadhurst

See also

Notes
  1. A further one tournament was scheduled but was cancelled.
  2. 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 which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998, with earlier editions having retrospectively been recognised as official tour wins. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.
  3. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References
  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. "Rich pickings on the European Tour". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 18 October 1988. p. 14. Retrieved 28 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Sport in short | Fixtures | Golf". Sandwell Evening Mail. 1 February 1989. p. 39. Retrieved 28 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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