1996 European Tour
The 1996 European Tour was the 25th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour.[1]
| Duration | 25 January 1996 – 27 October 1996 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 38[lower-alpha 1] |
| Most wins | 4: Ian Woosnam |
| Volvo Order of Merit |  Colin Montgomerie |
| Golfer of the Year | Colin Montgomerie |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Thomas 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.
Changes for 1996
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.[2]
In January, the Jersey Open was moved onto the European Senior Tour schedule and the Open Mediterrania was replaced by the Catalan Open.[3] In February, a new tournament in Spain, the Oki Pro-Am was added opposite the Dunhill Cup.[4] 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.[5]
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 1996 season. The season was made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[6][7][8]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (£) |
Winner[lower-alpha 2] | OWGR points |
Other tours[lower-alpha 3] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan | Johnnie Walker Classic | Singapore | 600,000 | Ian Woosnam (25) |
42 | ANZ | |
| 4 Feb | Heineken Classic | Australia | A$800,000 | Ian Woosnam (26) |
34 | ANZ | New to European Tour |
| 11 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | South Africa | R2,200,000 |  Mark McNulty (13) |
30 | AFR | New tournament |
| 18 Feb | Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship | South Africa | R1,800,000 |  Sven Strüver (1) |
22 | AFR | |
| 25 Feb | FNB Players Championship | South Africa | R2,300,000 |  Wayne Westner (2) |
28 | AFR | New to European Tour |
| Turespaña Open Mediterrania | Spain | – | Cancelled | – | |||
| 3 Mar | Catalan Open | Spain | 300,000 | Paul Lawrie (1) |
20 | ||
| 10 Mar | Moroccan Open | Morocco | 350,000 |  Peter Hedblom (1) |
26 | ||
| 17 Mar | Dubai Desert Classic | UAE | US$1,000,000 | Colin Montgomerie (10) |
36 | ||
| 24 Mar | Portuguese Open | Portugal | 350,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Wayne Riley (2) |
20 | ||
| 31 Mar | Madeira Island Open | Portugal | 300,000 | Jarmo Sandelin (2) |
20 | ||
| 14 Apr | Masters Tournament | United States | US$2,500,000 |  Nick Faldo (30) |
100 | Major championship[lower-alpha 4] | |
| 21 Apr | Air France Cannes Open | France | 400,000 | Raymond Russell (1) |
20 | ||
| 28 Apr | Turespaña Masters | Spain | 500,000 |  Diego Borrego (1) |
26 | ||
| 5 May | Conte of Florence Italian Open | Italy | 500,000 | Jim Payne (2) |
24 | ||
| 12 May | Peugeot Spanish Open | Spain | 550,000 |  Pádraig Harrington (1) |
32 | ||
| 19 May | Benson & Hedges International Open | England | 700,000 |  Stephen Ames (2) |
44 | ||
| 27 May | Volvo PGA Championship | England | 1,000,000 |  Costantino Rocca (3) |
64 | Flagship event | |
| 2 Jun | Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe | Germany | 750,000 |  Frank Nobilo (5) |
38 | ||
| 9 Jun | Alamo English Open | England | 650,000 | Robert Allenby (2) |
30 | ||
| Jersey Open | Jersey | – | Cancelled | – | |||
| 16 Jun | Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge | England | 300,000 | Retief Goosen (1) |
20 | New tournament | |
| 16 Jun | U.S. Open | United States | US$2,400,000 |  Steve Jones (n/a) |
100 | Major championship[lower-alpha 4] | |
| 23 Jun | BMW International Open | Germany | 500,000 |  Marc Farry (1) |
20 | ||
| 30 Jun | Peugeot Open de France | France | 600,000 | Robert Allenby (3) |
40 | ||
| 7 Jul | Murphy's Irish Open | Ireland | 750,000 | Colin Montgomerie (11) |
40 | ||
| 13 Jul | Scottish Open | Scotland | 480,000 | Ian Woosnam (27) |
42 | ||
| 21 Jul | The Open Championship | England | 1,500,000 | Tom Lehman (n/a) |
100 | Major championship | |
| 28 Jul | Sun Microsystems Dutch Open | Netherlands | 650,000 | Mark McNulty (14) |
28 | ||
| 4 Aug | Volvo Scandinavian Masters | Sweden | 700,000 | Lee Westwood (1) |
32 | ||
| 11 Aug | Hohe Brücke Open | Austria | 250,000 | Paul McGinley (1) |
20 | ||
| 11 Aug | PGA Championship | United States | US$2,400,000 | Mark Brooks (n/a) |
100 | Major championship[lower-alpha 4] | |
| 18 Aug | Chemapol Trophy Czech Open | Czech Republic | 750,000 | Jonathan Lomas (1) |
20 | ||
| 25 Aug | Volvo German Open | Germany | 700,000 | Ian Woosnam (28) |
20 | ||
| 31 Aug | One 2 One British Masters | England | 700,000 | Robert Allenby (4) |
36 | ||
| 8 Sep | Canon European Masters | Switzerland | 750,000 | Colin Montgomerie (12) |
32 | ||
| 15 Sep | Trophée Lancôme | France | 650,000 | Jesper Parnevik (3) |
38 | ||
| 22 Sep | Loch Lomond World Invitational | Scotland | 750,000 | Thomas Bjørn (1) |
40 | ||
| 29 Sep | Smurfit European Open | Ireland | 750,000 | Per-Ulrik Johansson (3) |
38 | ||
| 6 Oct | Linde German Masters | Germany | 650,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Darren Clarke (2) |
40 | ||
| 13 Oct | Oki Pro-Am | Spain | 450,000 | Tom Kite (n/a) |
20 | New tournament | |
| 27 Oct | Volvo Masters | Spain | 900,000 | Mark McNulty (15) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct | Dunhill Cup | Scotland | 1,000,000 | Team USA |
n/a | Team event |
| 20 Oct | Toyota World Match Play Championship | England | 650,000 | Ernie Els |
42 | 12-player field |
| 20 Oct | Open Novotel Perrier | France | n/a | Steven Bottomley and Jonathan Lomas |
n/a | Team event |
| 3 Nov | Subaru Sarazen World Open | United States | US$1,900,000 | Frank Nobilo |
40 | |
| 24 Nov | World Cup of Golf | South Africa | US$1,300,000 | Ernie Els and Wayne Westner |
n/a | Team event |
| World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy | US$200,000 | Ernie Els |
n/a | |||
| Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship | Jamaica | – | Cancelled | – | ||
| 5 Jan | Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf | United States | US$3,650,000 | Greg Norman |
58 | 32-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][9]
| Position | Player | Prize money (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colin Montgomerie | 875,146 |
| 2 | Ian Woosnam | 650,423 |
| 3 | Robert Allenby | 532,143 |
| 4 | Costantino Rocca | 482,585 |
| 5 | Mark McNulty | 463,847 |
| 6 | Lee Westwood | 428,693 |
| 7 | Andrew Coltart | 345,936 |
| 8 | Darren Clarke | 329,795 |
| 9 | Paul Broadhurst | 300,364 |
| 10 | Thomas Bjørn | 292,023 |
Awards
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| European Tour Golfer of the Year | Colin Montgomerie |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Thomas Bjørn |
Notes
- A further two tournaments were scheduled but were cancelled.
- 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.
- AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.
- Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
References
- "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- "An event in a world of trouble". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 25 December 1995. p. 58. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Jersey tourney goes senior". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, Scotland. 25 January 1996. p. 27. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "New Madrid Pro-Am added to schedule". The Miami Herald. Miami, Florida. 29 February 1996. p. 1D. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "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.
- "1996 PGA European Tour". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeen, Scotland. 2 December 1995. p. 6. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "The Guardian sports | Highlights of the year | Golf". The Guardian. London, England. 30 December 1995. p. 15. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- 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.
- "Results | Golf | European Tour final Order of Merit". The Guardian. London, England. 29 October 1996. p. 24. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
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