1996 European Tour

1996 European Tour season
Duration25 January 1996 (1996-01-25) – 27 October 1996 (1996-10-27)
Number of official events38[a]
Most winsWales Ian Woosnam (4)
Order of MeritScotland Colin Montgomerie
Golfer of the YearScotland Colin Montgomerie
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearDenmark Thomas Bjørn
← 1995
1997 →

The 1996 European Tour, titled as the 1996 PGA European Tour,[1] was the 25th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 1996

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 season was ultimately made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[2][3][4]

Other changes from the previous season included 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.[5]

In January, the Jersey Open was moved onto the European Senior Tour schedule and the Open Mediterrania was replaced by the Catalan Open.[6] In February, a new tournament in Spain, the Oki Pro-Am, was added opposite the Dunhill Cup.[7] 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.[8]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1996 season.[9]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£) 		Winner[b] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[c] 		Notes
28 Jan Johnnie Walker Classic Singapore 600,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (25) 42 ANZ
4 Feb Heineken Classic Australia A$800,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (26) 34 ANZ New to European Tour
11 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am South Africa 400,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (13) 30 AFR New Pro-Am tournament
18 Feb Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship South Africa 300,000 Germany Sven Strüver (1) 22 AFR
25 Feb FNB Players Championship South Africa 400,000 South Africa Wayne Westner (2) 28 AFR New to European Tour
3 Mar Turespaña Open Mediterrania Spain – Cancelled[6] –
3 Mar Catalan Open Spain 300,000 Scotland Paul Lawrie (1) 20
10 Mar Moroccan Open Morocco 350,000 Sweden Peter Hedblom (1) 26
17 Mar Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$1,000,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (10) 36
24 Mar Portuguese Open Portugal 350,000 Australia Wayne Riley (2) 20
31 Mar Madeira Island Open Portugal 300,000 Sweden Jarmo Sandelin (2) 20
14 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$2,500,000 England Nick Faldo (30) 100 Major championship[d]
21 Apr Air France Cannes Open France 400,000 Scotland Raymond Russell (1) 20
28 Apr Turespaña Masters Spain 500,000 Spain Diego Borrego (1) 26
5 May Conte of Florence Italian Open Italy 500,000 England Jim Payne (2) 24
12 May Peugeot Spanish Open Spain 550,000 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (1) 32
19 May Benson & Hedges International Open England 700,000 Trinidad and Tobago Stephen Ames (2) 44
27 May Volvo PGA Championship England 1,000,000 Italy Costantino Rocca (3) 64 Flagship event
2 Jun Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe Germany 750,000 New Zealand Frank Nobilo (5) 38
9 Jun Alamo English Open England 650,000 Australia Robert Allenby (2) 30
16 Jun Jersey Open Jersey – Cancelled[6] –
16 Jun Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge England 300,000 South Africa Retief Goosen (1) 20 New tournament
16 Jun U.S. Open United States US$2,400,000 United States Steve Jones (n/a) 100 Major championship[d]
23 Jun BMW International Open Germany 500,000 France Marc Farry (1) 20
30 Jun Peugeot Open de France France 600,000 Australia Robert Allenby (3) 40
7 Jul Murphy's Irish Open Ireland 750,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (11) 40
13 Jul Scottish Open Scotland 480,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (27) 42
21 Jul The Open Championship England 1,500,000 United States Tom Lehman (n/a) 100 Major championship
28 Jul Sun Microsystems Dutch Open Netherlands 650,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (14) 28
4 Aug Volvo Scandinavian Masters Sweden 700,000 England Lee Westwood (1) 32
11 Aug Hohe Brücke Open Austria 250,000 Republic of Ireland Paul McGinley (1) 20
11 Aug PGA Championship United States US$2,400,000 United States Mark Brooks (n/a) 100 Major championship[d]
18 Aug Chemapol Trophy Czech Open Czech Republic 750,000 England Jonathan Lomas (1) 20
25 Aug Volvo German Open Germany 700,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (28) 20
31 Aug One 2 One British Masters England 700,000 Australia Robert Allenby (4) 36
8 Sep Canon European Masters Switzerland 750,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (12) 32
15 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 650,000 Sweden Jesper Parnevik (3) 38
22 Sep Loch Lomond World Invitational Scotland 750,000 Denmark Thomas Bjørn (1) 40
29 Sep Smurfit European Open Ireland 750,000 Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson (3) 38
6 Oct Linde German Masters Germany 650,000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (2) 40
13 Oct Oki Pro-Am Spain 450,000 United States Tom Kite (n/a) 20 New tournament
27 Oct Volvo Masters Spain 900,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (15) 40 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
13 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland 1,000,000 Team USA n/a Team event
20 Oct Toyota World Match Play Championship England 650,000 South Africa Ernie Els 42 Limited-field event
20 Oct Open Novotel Perrier France n/a England Steven Bottomley and
England Jonathan Lomas 		n/a Team event
3 Nov Subaru Sarazen World Open United States US$1,900,000 New Zealand Frank Nobilo 40
24 Nov World Cup of Golf South Africa US$1,300,000 South Africa Ernie Els and
South Africa Wayne Westner 		n/a Team event
World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy US$200,000 South Africa Ernie Els n/a
22 Dec Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship Jamaica – Cancelled –
5 Jan Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf United States US$3,650,000 Australia Greg Norman 58 Limited-field event

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.[10][11]

Position Player Prize money (£)
1 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 875,146
2 Wales Ian Woosnam 650,423
3 Australia Robert Allenby 532,143
4 Italy Costantino Rocca 482,585
5 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty 463,847
6 England Lee Westwood 428,693
7 Scotland Andrew Coltart 345,936
8 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke 329,795
9 England Paul Broadhurst 300,364
10 Denmark Thomas Bjørn 292,023

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Golfer of the Year Scotland Colin Montgomerie [12]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Denmark Thomas Bjørn [13]

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. ^ AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.
  4. ^ a b c Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References

  1. ^ "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  2. ^ "1996 PGA European Tour". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 2 December 1995. p. 6. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "The Guardian sports | Highlights of the year | Golf". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. 30 December 1995. p. 15. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Hopkins, John (25 January 1996). "Business trip east marks start of European venture". The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 42. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. ^ "An event in a world of trouble". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 25 December 1995. p. 58. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c "Jersey tourney goes senior". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 25 January 1996. p. 27. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "New Madrid Pro-Am added to schedule". The Miami Herald. Miami, Florida. 29 February 1996. p. 1D. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Top six stars boost world match-play | Northumberland". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 6 March 1996. p. 26. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "1996 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Results | Golf | European Tour final Order of Merit". The Guardian. London, England. 29 October 1996. p. 24. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Williams, Michael (29 October 1996). "Ryder Cup helps keep critical players in check". The Daily Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. p. 36. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Garrod, Mark (13 December 1996). "No resting on laurels as Monty sets stall". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. p. 14. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com. While the European Tour's Johnnie Walker Golf of the Year award was presented to his manager Guy Kinnings...
  13. ^ "Rookie Bjorn's coveted award". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 6 December 1996. p. 14. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.