2003 European Tour
The 2003 European Tour was the 32nd season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.
| Duration | 21 November 2002 – 2 November 2003 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 45 |
| Most wins | 4: Ernie Els |
| Order of Merit | Ernie Els |
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Peter Lawrie |
← 2002 2004 → | |
The Order of Merit was won for the first time by South African Ernie Els.
Changes for 2003
There were four new tournaments to the European Tour in 2003, the Nordic Open[1] and three dual-ranking events, the Aa St Omer Open, BMW Russian Open and Mallorca Classic. Lost from the tour schedule were the English Open, Great North Open and the dual-ranking North West of Ireland Open.[2]
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2003 season. The season was made up of 45 tournaments counting towards the Order of Merit, which included the four major championships and three World Golf Championships, and three non-counting "Approved Special Events".
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct | HSBC World Match Play Championship | England | £2,300,000 | Ernie Els | n/a | 12-player field |
| 9 Nov | Seve Trophy | Spain | n/a |  Team GB&I | n/a | Team event |
| 18 Nov | WGC-World Cup | United States | US$4,000,000 | Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini | n/a | World Golf Championship Team event |
Order of Merit
In 2003, 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 2003 were:
| Position | Player | Prize money (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ernie Els | 2,975,374 |
| 2 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Darren Clarke | 2,210,051 |
| 3 | Pádraig Harrington | 1,555,623 |
| 4 |  Freddie Jacobson | 1,521,303 |
| 5 |  Ian Poulter | 1,500,855 |
| 6 | Paul Casey | 1,360,456 |
| 7 | Lee Westwood | 1,330,713 |
| 8 |  Thomas Bjørn | 1,327,148 |
| 9 | Brian Davis | 1,245,513 |
| 10 |  Phillip Price | 1,234,018 |
Awards
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| European Tour Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Peter Lawrie |
Notelist
- 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
References
- "Nordic Open will make debut in 2003". ESPN. Reuters. 6 November 2002. Retrieved 5 May 2003.
- "Golf". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. 27 November 2002. p. 2C. Retrieved 5 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.