1991 European Tour

The 1991 European Tour, titled as the 1991 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 20th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour.[1]

1991 European Tour season
Duration7 February 1991 (1991-02-07) – 27 October 1991 (1991-10-27)
Number of official events34[lower-alpha 1]
Most wins3:
Ian Woosnam
Volvo Order of Merit Seve Ballesteros
Golfer of the Year Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Per-Ulrik Johansson
← 1990
1992 →

The Order of Merit was won by Spain's Seve Ballesteros for the sixth time, having previously won in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1986 and 1988.

Changes for 1991

There were several changes from the previous season, with the return of both the Catalan Open and the Jersey Open; the addition of the Girona Open; the loss of the Tenerife Open; and the Scandinavian Enterprise Open and the PLM Open were merged to create the Scandinavian Masters.[2]

After provisionally being scheduled for 14–17 October, the Portuguese Open was moved to 21–24 March, taking the venue and dates of the Atlantic Open, which was lost from the calendar.[3] Also before the season started, three more tournaments were removed from the schedule; the Dubai Desert Classic was cancelled due to the Gulf War, the El Bosque Open was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship, and the AGF Open was cancelled as sponsors sought to replace the event's promotion company.[4] These changes resulted in a reduction to 34 counting tournaments for the Order of Merit.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1991 season. The season was originally made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and eight non-counting "Approved Special Events".

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)		 Winner[lower-alpha 2] OWGR
points		 Notes
10 Feb Dubai Desert Classic UAE – Cancelled –
17 Feb El Bosque Open Spain – Cancelled –
24 Feb Girona Open Spain 250,000 Steven Richardson (1) 24 New tournament
3 Mar Fujitsu Mediterranean Open France 400,000 Ian Woosnam (17) 38
10 Mar Open de Baleares Spain 275,000 Gavan Levenson (2) 30
17 Mar Open Catalonia Spain 300,000 José María Olazábal (10) 32
24 Mar Vinho Verde Atlantic Open Portugal – Cancelled –
24 Mar Portuguese Open Portugal 275,000 Steven Richardson (2) 16
31 Mar Volvo Open di Firenze Italy 200,000 Anders Forsbrand (2) 16
7 Apr AGF Open France – Cancelled –
14 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$1,350,000 Ian Woosnam (18) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
14 Apr Jersey European Airways Open Jersey 200,000 Sam Torrance (14) 16
21 Apr Benson & Hedges International Open England 400,000 Bernhard Langer (24) 52
28 Apr Madrid Open Spain 275,000 Andrew Sherborne (1) 20
5 May Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open France 350,000 David Feherty (4) 24
12 May Peugeot Spanish Open Spain 350,000 Eduardo Romero (3) 48
19 May Lancia Martini Italian Open Italy 325,000 Craig Parry (3) 42
27 May Volvo PGA Championship England 500,000 Seve Ballesteros (44) 64 Flagship event
2 Jun Dunhill British Masters England 450,000 Seve Ballesteros (45) 42
9 Jun Murphy's Cup England 350,000 Tony Johnstone (3) 34
16 Jun Renault Belgian Open Belgium 250,000 Per-Ulrik Johansson (1) 16
16 Jun U.S. Open United States US$1,300,000 Payne Stewart (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
23 Jun Carroll's Irish Open Ireland 375,000 Nick Faldo (22) 48
30 Jun Peugeot Open de France France 400,000 Eduardo Romero (4) 42
6 Jul Torras Monte Carlo Open France 400,000 Ian Woosnam (19) 44
13 Jul Bell's Scottish Open Scotland 500,000 Craig Parry (4) 56
21 Jul The Open Championship England 900,000 Ian Baker-Finch (2) 100 Major championship
28 Jul Heineken Dutch Open Netherlands 500,000 Payne Stewart (n/a) 44
4 Aug Scandinavian Masters Sweden 600,000 Colin Montgomerie (2) 48 New tournament
11 Aug European Pro-Celebrity England 250,000 Paul Broadhurst (2) 16
11 Aug PGA Championship United States US$1,350,000 John Daly (1) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
18 Aug NM English Open England 450,000 David Gilford (1) 30
25 Aug Volvo German Open Germany 525,000 Mark McNulty (11) 30
1 Sep GA European Open England 500,000 Mike Harwood (5) 52
8 Sep Canon European Masters Swiss Open Switzerland 450,000 Jeff Hawkes (1) 36
15 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 450,000 Frank Nobilo (2) 56
22 Sep Epson Grand Prix of Europe Wales 450,000 José María Olazábal (11) 38
29 Sep Mitsubishi Austrian Open Austria 250,000 Mark Davis (1) 16
6 Oct Mercedes German Masters Germany 500,000 Bernhard Langer (25) 50
13 Oct BMW International Open Germany 400,000 Sandy Lyle (16) 38
27 Oct Volvo Masters Spain 600,000 Rodger Davis (6) 52

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
17 Sep Equity & Law Challenge England 150,000 Brian Marchbank n/a
29 Sep Ryder Cup United States n/a Team USA n/a Two 12-man teams
13 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland US$1,700,000 Team Sweden n/a Team event
20 Oct Toyota World Match Play Championship England 500,000 Seve Ballesteros 48 12-player field
3 Nov World Cup Italy US$1,100,000 Anders Forsbrand and
Per-Ulrik Johansson		 n/a Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy Ian Woosnam n/a
10 Nov Benson & Hedges Trophy Spain 200,000 Helen Alfredsson and
Anders Forsbrand		 n/a Team event
10 Nov Asahi Glass Four Tours World Championship Australia US$1,150,000 Team Europe n/a Team event
22 Dec Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship Jamaica US$2,500,000 Fred Couples 64 26-player field

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 Seve Ballesteros545,353
2 Steven Richardson393,155
3 Bernhard Langer372,703
4 Colin Montgomerie343,575
5 Craig Parry328,116
6 Rodger Davis317,441
7 José María Olazábal302,270
8 Ian Woosnam257,433
9 David Gilford249,240
10 Nick Faldo245,892

Sources:[5][6]

Awards
AwardWinner
European Tour Golfer of the Year Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Per-Ulrik Johansson

See also

Notes
  1. A further four tournaments were scheduled but were 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 22 July 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. Platts, Mitchell (13 October 1990). "Tour offers £20m pickings". The Times. p. 30. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  3. "European Tour itinerary". The Observer. London, England. 24 February 1991. p. 46. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Sport in brief | Golf". The Guardian. London, England. 16 January 1991. p. 16. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Weekend results | Golf". The Guardian. London, England. 28 October 1991. p. 19. Retrieved 26 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Final Scores from Valderrama". The Times. 28 October 1991. p. 40. Retrieved 26 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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