2002 European Tour
The 2002 European Tour was the 31st season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.
| Duration | 22 November 2001 – 10 November 2002 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 44 |
| Most wins | 3:[lower-alpha 1] Ernie Els |
| Order of Merit | Retief Goosen |
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Nick Dougherty |
← 2001 2003 → | |
The Order of Merit was won by Retief Goosen, defending the title he won in 2001.
Changes for 2002
There were three new tournaments to the European Tour in 2002, the BMW Asian Open in Taiwan, the Omega Hong Kong Open and the ANZ Championship in Australia. The schedule also saw the return of the Open de Canarias, but this was ultimately combined with the Open de España, and the loss of the Greg Norman Holden International, the Moroccan Open, the São Paulo Brazil Open and the Argentine Open.
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2002 season. The season was made up of 44 tournaments counting towards the Order of Merit, which included the four major championships and three World Golf Championships, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events" including the Ryder Cup which had been postponed from 2001.[1]
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Apr | Seve Trophy | Ireland | n/a |   Team GB&I | n/a | Team event |
| 29 Sep | Ryder Cup | England | n/a |  Team Europe | n/a | Two 12-man teams |
| 20 Oct | Cisco World Match Play Championship | England | £1,000,000 | Ernie Els | n/a | 12-player field |
| 18 Nov | WGC-World Cup | Mexico | US$3,000,000 |  Toshimitsu Izawa and Shigeki Maruyama | n/a | World Golf Championship Team event |
Order of Merit
In 2002, the European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit". It was calculated in euro, although around half of the events had prize funds which were fixed in other currencies, mostly either British pounds or U.S. dollars. In these instances the amounts were converted into euro at the exchange rate for the week that the tournament was played. The top 10 golfers in 2002 were:
| Position | Player | Prize money (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retief Goosen | 2,360,128 |
| 2 | Pádraig Harrington | 2,334,655 |
| 3 | Ernie Els | 2,251,708 |
| 4 |  Colin Montgomerie | 1,980,720 |
| 5 |  Eduardo Romero | 1,811,330 |
| 6 |  Sergio García | 1,488,728 |
| 7 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Adam Scott | 1,361,776 |
| 8 |  Michael Campbell | 1,325,404 |
| 9 | Justin Rose | 1,323,529 |
| 10 | Paul Lawrie | 1,151,434 |
Awards
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| European Tour Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Nick Dougherty |
Notes
- Tiger Woods won 4 events, but was not a European Tour member.
- 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 − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian PGA Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour.
- Sunshine Tour flagship event
- Langer and Montgomerie remained level after two holes of a sudden-death playoff before darkness forced an end to play; they agreed to share the title instead of returning the following day.
References
- "Doubts over Dunhill Links future". BBC Sport. 26 October 2001. Retrieved 4 May 2020.