1990 European Tour

1990 European Tour season
Duration15 February 1990 (1990-02-15) – 28 October 1990 (1990-10-28)
Number of official events37[a]
Most winsWales Ian Woosnam (4)
Order of MeritWales Ian Woosnam
Golfer of the YearEngland Nick Faldo
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearEngland Russell Claydon
← 1989
1991 →

The 1990 European Tour, titled as the 1990 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

It was the third season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Volvo, that was announced in May 1987.[1]

Changes for 1990

The season was made up of 37 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and seven non-counting "Approved Special Events".[2]

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Atlantic Open, the Amex Med Open and the Austrian Open; and the promotion of the Murphy's Cup to full Order of Merit status.

Before the official schedule was announced the Tenerife Open was dropped,[3] but later returned in place of the cancelled Catalan Open.[4] In late February the Jersey Open was cancelled and replaced by a new tournament in Spain, the El Bosque Open.[5]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1990 season.[6]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£) 		Winner[b] OWGR
points 		Notes
18 Feb Vinho Verde Atlantic Open Portugal 200,000 Scotland Stephen McAllister (1) 16 New tournament
25 Feb Emirates Airlines Desert Classic UAE US$450,000 Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy (4) 40
4 Mar Amex Med Open Spain 400,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (13) 30 New tournament
11 Mar Open Renault de Baleares Spain 275,000 Spain Seve Ballesteros (43) 30
18 Mar Catalan Open Spain – Cancelled –
18 Mar Tenerife Open Spain 200,000 Argentina Vicente Fernández (3) 18
25 Mar Volvo Open di Firenze Italy 200,000 Argentina Eduardo Romero (2) 16
1 Apr AGF Open France 200,000 Australia Brett Ogle (1) 16
8 Apr Jersey Open Jersey – Cancelled –
8 Apr El Bosque Open Spain 200,000 Fiji Vijay Singh (2) 16 New tournament
8 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$1,250,000 England Nick Faldo (20) 100 Major championship[c]
16 Apr Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open France 300,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (9) 28
22 Apr Cepsa Madrid Open Spain 275,000 West Germany Bernhard Langer (22) 40
29 Apr Peugeot Spanish Open Spain 300,000 Australia Rodger Davis (4) 44
7 May Benson & Hedges International Open England 350,000 Spain José María Olazábal (7) 48
13 May Peugeot-Trends Belgian Open Belgium 250,000 Sweden Ove Sellberg (3) 26
20 May Lancia Martini Italian Open Italy 300,000 England Richard Boxall (1) 36
28 May Volvo PGA Championship England 400,000 Australia Mike Harwood (3) 64 Flagship event[d]
3 Jun Dunhill British Masters England 300,000 England Mark James (13) 40
10 Jun Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden 400,000 United States Craig Stadler (n/a) 30
17 Jun Wang Four Stars England 225,000 Australia Rodger Davis (5) 16 Pro-Am
17 Jun U.S. Open United States US$1,200,000 United States Hale Irwin (n/a) 100 Major championship[c]
24 Jun Carroll's Irish Open Ireland 350,000 Spain José María Olazábal (8) 40
1 Jul Peugeot Open de France France 350,000 Republic of Ireland Philip Walton (1) 36
7 Jul Torras Monte Carlo Open France 350,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (14) 34
14 Jul Bell's Scottish Open Scotland 400,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (15) 56
22 Jul The Open Championship Scotland 500,000 England Nick Faldo (21) 100 Major championship
29 Jul KLM Dutch Open Netherlands 350,000 Scotland Stephen McAllister (2) 32
5 Aug PLM Open Sweden 350,000 Northern Ireland Ronan Rafferty (4) 22
12 Aug Murphy's Cup England 250,000 Zimbabwe Tony Johnstone (2) 16
12 Aug PGA Championship United States US$1,350,000 Australia Wayne Grady (2) 100 Major championship[c]
19 Aug NM English Open England 400,000 England Mark James (14) 34
26 Aug Volvo German Open West Germany 450,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (10) 26
2 Sep Ebel European Masters Swiss Open Switzerland 450,000 Northern Ireland Ronan Rafferty (5) 34
9 Sep Panasonic European Open England 400,000 Australia Peter Senior (3) 48
16 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 425,000 Spain José María Olazábal (9) 50 Limited-field event
23 Sep BMW International Open West Germany 400,000 United States Paul Azinger (n/a) 44
30 Sep Epson Grand Prix of Europe Wales 400,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (16) 46 Limited-field event
7 Oct Mercedes German Masters Germany 450,000 Scotland Sam Torrance (13) 46
14 Oct Austrian Open Austria 250,000 Germany Bernhard Langer (23) 16 New tournament
21 Oct Portuguese Open TPC Portugal 275,000 England Michael McLean (1) 20
28 Oct Volvo Masters Spain 450,000 Australia Mike Harwood (4) 44 Tour Championship

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
6 Jul J. P. McManus Pro-Am Ireland n/a England Roger Chapman n/a Pro-Am
16 Sep Motorola Classic England 60,000 England Paul Broadhurst 4
23 Sep Suntory World Match Play Championship England 350,000 Wales Ian Woosnam 48 Limited-field event
25 Sep Equity & Law Challenge England 120,000 Scotland Brian Marchbank n/a
30 Sep UAP European Under-25 Championship England n/a England Peter Baker n/a
14 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland US$1,000,000 Team Ireland n/a Team event
4 Nov Benson & Hedges Trophy Spain 200,000 Spain Tania Abitbol and
Spain José María Cañizares 		n/a Team event
4 Nov Asahi Glass Four Tours World Championship Japan US$1,150,000 Team Australasia n/a Team event
24 Nov World Cup United States US$1,100,000 Germany Torsten Giedeon and
Germany Bernhard Langer 		n/a Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy United States Payne Stewart n/a

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was titled as the Volvo Order of Merit and was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Pound sterling.[8][9]

Position Player Prize money (£)
1 Wales Ian Woosnam 574,166
2 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty 507,541
3 Spain José María Olazábal 434,766
4 Germany Bernhard Langer 320,450
5 Northern Ireland Ronan Rafferty 309,851
6 Australia Mike Harwood 280,084
7 Scotland Sam Torrance 248,203
8 Northern Ireland David Feherty 237,830
9 Australia Rodger Davis 233,841
10 England Mark James 229,742

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Golfer of the Year England Nick Faldo [10]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year England Russell Claydon [11]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A further two tournaments were scheduled but were cancelled.
  2. ^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of European Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for European Tour members 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.
  3. ^ a b c Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
  4. ^ Official World Golf Ranking "flagship" event status was granted to the European Tour for the first time in 1990, with the Volvo PGA Championship designated as the tour's flagship event.[7]

References

  1. ^ White, Graeme (26 May 1987). "Volvo boost for Euro golf". Black Country Evening Mail. West Bromwich, United Kingdom. p. 33. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Euro golf dates". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 21 December 1989. p. 21. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "European Tour prize money climbs to £16 million". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. 22 December 1989. p. 21. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Sport in brief | Catalán off". The Times. 6 February 1990. p. 40. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. ^ "La Moye pensioned off". The Times. 27 February 1990. p. 36. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  6. ^ "1990 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  7. ^ "How the ranking evolved". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  8. ^ "1990 European Tour". The Observer. London, United Kingdom. 4 November 1990. p. 23. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Platts, Mitchell (29 October 1990). "Order restored for Woosnam". The Times. p. 32. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  10. ^ Moseley, Ron (21 December 1990). "Faldo retains Ritz trophy". Coventry Evening Telegraph. Coventry, United Kingdom. p. 44. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Claydon secures top rookie award". The Daily Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. 6 November 1990. p. 29. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.