2008 European Tour
| Duration | 8 November 2007 – 2 November 2008 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 52[a] |
| Most wins | Darren Clarke (2)[b] Richard Finch (2) Pádraig Harrington (2) Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2) Robert Karlsson (2) Martin Kaymer (2) Graeme McDowell (2) |
| 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 2008 European Tour was the 37th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
Changes for 2008
There were four new tournaments, the Emaar-MGF 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,[2] 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.[3]
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2008 season.[4]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse | Winner[c] | OWGR points |
Other tours[d] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Nov | HSBC Champions | China | US$5,000,000 | Phil Mickelson (n/a) | 52 | AFR,[e] ANZ,[f] ASA[g] | Limited-field event |
| 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[h] | |
| 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 |
| Singapore Masters | Singapore | – | Cancelled[2] | – | 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 | US$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 | Limited-field event | |
| 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 | Pro-Am | |
| World Match Play Championship | England | – | Cancelled[3] | – | |||
| 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 | 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 | Winners | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Sep | Ryder Cup | United States | n/a | Team USA | n/a | Team event |
| 30 Nov | Omega Mission Hills World Cup | China | US$5,500,000 | Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson |
n/a | Team event |
Location of tournaments
|
Location of official tournaments of the 2008 European Tour in Europe. Major Championship Flagship event Tour Championship Regular event |
Location of official tournaments of the 2008 European Tour outside Europe. Major Championship World Golf Championship Regular event
|
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.[5][6]
| Position | Player | Prize money (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Karlsson | 2,732,748 |
| 2 | Pádraig Harrington | 2,459,109 |
| 3 | Lee Westwood | 2,424,642 |
| 4 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez | 2,066,596 |
| 5 | Graeme McDowell | 1,859,346 |
| 6 | Ross Fisher | 1,836,530 |
| 7 | Henrik Stenson | 1,798,617 |
| 8 | Martin Kaymer | 1,794,500 |
| 9 | Sergio García | 1,591,917 |
| 10 | Søren Kjeldsen | 1,440,979 |
Awards
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Pádraig Harrington | [7] |
| Players' Player of the Year | Pádraig Harrington | [8] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Pablo Larrazábal | [9] |
See also
Notes
- ^ A further two tournaments were scheduled but were cancelled.
- ^ Tiger Woods won three events, but was not a European Tour member.
- ^ 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.
- ^ AFR − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour; KOR − Korean Tour.
- ^ Sunshine Tour unofficial event
- ^ PGA Tour of Australasia unofficial event
- ^ Asian Tour unofficial event
- ^ Sunshine Tour flagship event
References
- ^ "Euro Tour to hit India and Korea". BBC Sport. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Singapore Masters cancelled". Irish Examiner. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- ^ a b Mair, Lewine (23 June 2008). "Matchplay's 44-year run at Wentworth ends". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
- ^ "2008 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ "2008 Order of Merit". European Tour. Archived from the original on 3 November 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Donegan, Lawrence (3 November 2008). "Swede success for Karlsson in Order of Merit triumph". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ "Harrington named European Tour Golfer of the Year". Golf Monthly. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ "Harrington awarded by fellow players". Golf Business News. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ "Larrazabal named European rookie of year". CNN. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2023.