2008 European Tour

The 2008 European Tour was the 37th golf season since the European Tour officially began in 1972.

2008 European Tour season
Duration8 November 2007 (2007-11-08) – 2 November 2008 (2008-11-02)
Number of official events52
Most wins2:[lower-alpha 1]
Darren Clarke
Richard Finch
Pádraig Harrington
Miguel Ángel Jiménez
Robert Karlsson
Martin Kaymer
Graeme McDowell
Order of Merit Robert Karlsson
Golfer of the Year Pádraig Harrington
Players' Player of the Year Pádraig Harrington
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Pablo Larrazábal
← 2007
2009 →

The Order of Merit was won by Robert Karlsson, the first Swedish golfer to do so. The Golfer of the Year award was given to Pádraig Harrington, who won two major championships during the season and finished second in the Order of Merit. The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year was Pablo Larrazábal from Spain.

Major tournaments
Main article: 2008 in golf

For a summary of the major tournaments and events of 2008, including the major championships and the World Golf Championships, see 2008 in golf.

Changes for 2008

There were four new tournaments, the Indian Masters, the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea,[1] and in Spain the Madrid Masters and the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar. Lost from the tour schedule were the Singapore Masters, the TCL Classic, the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe, the Madrid Open and the Mallorca Classic. the World Match Play Championship was originally scheduled, but was not held; it returned in 2009 with a new sponsor and venue.[2]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2008 season. The season began in November 2007 and consisted of 50 official money events, a drop of two from the previous year. This included seven major championships and World Golf Championships, which are also sanctioned by the PGA Tour. 27 events took place in Europe, 11 in Asia, six in the United States, four in South Africa, one in Australia and one in New Zealand.

Date Tournament Host country Purse Winner[lower-alpha 2] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 3]		 Notes
11 Nov HSBC Champions China US$5,000,000 Phil Mickelson (n/a) 52 AFR, ANZ, ASA
18 Nov UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong US$2,250,000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez (14) 36 ASA
25 Nov MasterCard Masters Australia A$1,500,000 Aaron Baddeley (n/a) 24 ANZ
2 Dec Michael Hill New Zealand Open New Zealand NZ$1,500,000 Richard Finch (1) 20 ANZ
9 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship South Africa €1,000,000 John Bickerton (3) 22 AFR
16 Dec South African Airways Open South Africa €1,000,000 James Kingston (1) 32 AFR[lower-alpha 4]
13 Jan Joburg Open South Africa €1,100,000 Richard Sterne (3) 20 AFR
20 Jan Abu Dhabi Golf Championship UAE US$2,000,000 Martin Kaymer (1) 44
27 Jan Commercialbank Qatar Masters Qatar US$2,500,000 Adam Scott (6) 46
3 Feb Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$2,500,000 Tiger Woods (n/a) 50
10 Feb Emaar-MGF Indian Masters India US$2,500,000 Shiv Chawrasia (1) 26 ASA New tournament
17 Feb Singapore Masters Singapore – Cancelled – ASA
17 Feb Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open Indonesia US$1,200,000 Felipe Aguilar (1) 20 ASA
24 Feb WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship United States US$8,000,000 Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championship
2 Mar Johnnie Walker Classic India £1,250,000 Mark Brown (1) 38 ANZ, ASA
9 Mar Maybank Malaysian Open Malaysia US$2,000,000 Arjun Atwal (3) 24 ASA
16 Mar Ballantine's Championship South Korea €2,000,000 Graeme McDowell (3) 28 ASA, KOR New tournament
23 Mar Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal Portugal €700,000 Alastair Forsyth (2) 24
23 Mar WGC-CA Championship United States US$8,000,000 Geoff Ogilvy (3) 76 World Golf Championship
30 Mar MAPFRE Open de Andalucia Spain €1,000,000 Thomas Levet (4) 24
6 Apr Estoril Open de Portugal Portugal €1,250,000 Grégory Bourdy (2) 24
13 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$7,500,000 Trevor Immelman (4) 100 Major championship
20 Apr Volvo China Open China US$2,200,000 Damien McGrane (1) 20 ASA
27 Apr BMW Asian Open China US$2,300,000 Darren Clarke (11) 32 ASA
4 May Open de España Spain €2,000,000 Peter Lawrie (1) 24
11 May Methorios Capital Italian Open Italy €1,700,000 Hennie Otto (1) 24
18 May Irish Open Ireland €2,500,000 Richard Finch (2) 28
25 May BMW PGA Championship England €4,500,000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez (15) 64 Flagship event
1 Jun Celtic Manor Wales Open Wales £1,800,000 Scott Strange (1) 36
8 Jun Bank Austria GolfOpen Austria €1,300,000 Jeev Milkha Singh (3) 24
15 Jun U.S. Open United States US$7,500,000 Tiger Woods (n/a) 100 Major championship
15 Jun Saint-Omer Open France €600,000 David Dixon (1) 18 CHA
22 Jun BMW International Open Germany €2,000,000 Martin Kaymer (2) 30
29 Jun Open de France Alstom France €4,000,000 Pablo Larrazábal (1) 38
6 Jul European Open England £2,400,000 Ross Fisher (2) 40
13 Jul Barclays Scottish Open Scotland £3,000,000 Graeme McDowell (4) 50
20 Jul The Open Championship England £4,200,000 Pádraig Harrington (13) 100 Major championship
27 Jul Inteco Russian Open Golf Championship Russia €2,000,000 Mikael Lundberg (2) 24
3 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational United States US$8,000,000 Vijay Singh (13) 74 World Golf Championship
10 Aug PGA Championship United States US$7,500,000 Pádraig Harrington (14) 100 Major championship
17 Aug SAS Masters Sweden €1,600,000 Peter Hanson (2) 24
24 Aug KLM Open Netherlands €1,800,000 Darren Clarke (12) 30
31 Aug Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles Scotland £1,400,000 Grégory Havret (3) 32
7 Sep Omega European Masters Switzerland €2,000,000 Jean-François Lucquin (1) 24
14 Sep Mercedes-Benz Championship Germany €2,000,000 Robert Karlsson (8) 34
28 Sep Quinn Insurance British Masters England £1,800,000 Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (4) 30
5 Oct Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Scotland US$5,000,000 Robert Karlsson (9) 50
12 Oct World Match Play Championship England – Cancelled –
12 Oct Madrid Masters Spain €1,000,000 Charl Schwartzel (3) 24 New tournament
19 Oct Portugal Masters Portugal €3,000,000 Álvaro Quirós (2) 38
26 Oct Castelló Masters Costa Azahar Spain €2,000,000 Sergio García (7) 38 New tournament
2 Nov Volvo Masters Spain €4,250,000 Søren Kjeldsen (2) 50

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 Winners OWGR
points		 Notes
21 Sep Ryder Cup United States n/a Team USA n/a Two 12-man teams
30 Nov Omega Mission Hills World Cup China US$5,500,000 Robert Karlsson and
Henrik Stenson		 n/a Team event

Location of tournaments

Order of Merit

In 2008, 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 2008 were:

PositionPlayerPrize money
(€)
1 Robert Karlsson2,732,748
2 Pádraig Harrington2,459,109
3 Lee Westwood2,424,642
4 Miguel Ángel Jiménez2,066,596
5 Graeme McDowell1,859,346
6 Ross Fisher1,836,530
7 Henrik Stenson1,798,617
8 Martin Kaymer1,794,500
9 Sergio García1,591,917
10 Søren Kjeldsen1,440,979

Tiger Woods earned more money in European Tour events in 2008 (€2,759,558 in five events) than any other golfer, but was not a member of the European Tour so was not eligible for the Order of Merit.[3]

Awards
AwardWinner
European Tour Golfer of the Year Pádraig Harrington
European Tour Players' Player of the Year Pádraig Harrington
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Pablo Larrazábal

Golfer of the Month

The winners of the European Tour Golfer of the Month Award were as follows:

MonthPlayer
January Martin Kaymer
February Mark Brown
March Graeme McDowell
April Trevor Immelman
May Sergio García
June Pablo Larrazábal
July Pádraig Harrington
August Pádraig Harrington
September Robert Karlsson
October Robert Karlsson
November Robert Karlsson

See also

Notes
  1. Tiger Woods won 3 events, but was not a European Tour member.
  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. AFR − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour; KOR − Korean Tour.
  4. Sunshine Tour flagship event

References
  1. "Euro Tour to hit India and Korea". BBC Sport. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  2. Mair, Lewine (23 June 2008). "Matchplay's 44-year run at Wentworth ends". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  3. Tiger Woods – Career record
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