1994 European Tour season
Duration13 January 1994 (1994-01-13) – 30 October 1994 (1994-10-30)
Number of official events38[a]
Most winsScotland Colin Montgomerie (3)
Spain José María Olazábal (3)
Order of MeritScotland Colin Montgomerie
Golfer of the YearSouth Africa Ernie Els
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearEngland Jonathan Lomas
← 1993
1995 →

The 1994 European Tour, titled as the 1994 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 23rd season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

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

Changes for 1994

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

Aside from scheduling, initially there was just one change from the previous season, with the addition of the Extremadura Open. This created a sequence of five consecutive tournaments in Spain through February and March, and a total of nine events in the country although the Madrid Open would later be cancelled.

Shortly after the start of the season, the Roma Masters was cancelled and replaced by the Tournoi Perrier de Paris, a team event with prize money not counting towards the Order of Merit.[3] In late January, a further tournament was added to the schedule with the inaugural Chemapol Trophy Czech Open, opposite the Toyota World Match Play Championship in mid-October.[4] The Madrid Open, originally scheduled for 20–23 October, was cancelled with the Chemapol Trophy Czech Open taking the dates.[5] In addition, the Kronenbourg Open was not held.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1994 season.[6]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£) 		Winner[b] OWGR
points 		Notes
16 Jan Madeira Island Open Portugal 250,000 Sweden Mats Lanner (2) 20
23 Jan Moroccan Open Morocco 350,000 Sweden Anders Forsbrand (5) 20
30 Jan Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$700,000 South Africa Ernie Els (1) 46
6 Feb Johnnie Walker Classic Thailand 600,000 Australia Greg Norman (14) 54
13 Feb Turespaña Open De Tenerife Spain 250,000 England David Gilford (5) 20
20 Feb Extremadura Open Spain 250,000 England Paul Eales (1) 20 New tournament
27 Feb Turespaña Masters Open de Andalucía Spain 300,000 England Carl Mason (1) 24
6 Mar Turespaña Open Mediterrania Spain 300,000 Spain José María Olazábal (14) 26
13 Mar Turespaña Open de Baleares Spain 250,000 England Barry Lane (4) 20
20 Mar Portuguese Open Portugal 300,000 Wales Phillip Price (1) 22
27 Mar Kronenbourg Open Italy – Cancelled –
4 Apr Open V33 Grand Lyon France 225,000 Trinidad and Tobago Stephen Ames (1) 20
10 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$2,000,000 Spain José María Olazábal (15) 100 Major championship[c]
17 Apr Roma Masters Italy – Cancelled –
24 Apr Heineken Open Catalonia Spain 300,000 Argentina José Cóceres (1) 20
1 May Air France Cannes Open France 300,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (23) 38
8 May Benson & Hedges International Open England 650,000 Spain Seve Ballesteros (48) 48
15 May Peugeot Spanish Open Spain 500,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (5) 42
22 May Tisettanta Italian Open Italy 450,000 Argentina Eduardo Romero (5) 28
30 May Volvo PGA Championship England 800,000 Spain José María Olazábal (16) 64 Flagship event
5 Jun Alfred Dunhill Open Belgium 600,000 England Nick Faldo (29) 46
12 Jun Honda Open Germany 500,000 Australia Robert Allenby (1) 38
19 Jun Jersey European Airways Open Jersey 350,000 England Paul Curry (1) 20
20 Jun U.S. Open United States US$1,700,000 South Africa Ernie Els (2) 100 Major championship[c]
26 Jun Peugeot Open de France France 550,000 England Mark Roe (3) 36
3 Jul Murphy's Irish Open Ireland 600,000 Germany Bernhard Langer (31) 48
9 Jul Bell's Scottish Open Scotland 600,000 England Carl Mason (2) 44
17 Jul The Open Championship Scotland 1,000,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (4) 100 Major championship
24 Jul Heineken Dutch Open Netherlands 650,000 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2) 44
31 Jul Scandinavian Masters Sweden 650,000 Fiji Vijay Singh (5) 40
7 Aug BMW International Open Germany 525,000 Zimbabwe Mark McNulty (12) 36
14 Aug Hohe Brücke Open Austria 250,000 England Mark Davis (2) 20
14 Aug PGA Championship United States US$1,750,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (5) 100 Major championship[c]
21 Aug Murphy's English Open England 600,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (6) 38
28 Aug Volvo German Open Germany 650,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (7) 38
4 Sep Canon European Masters Switzerland 675,000 Argentina Eduardo Romero (6) 44
11 Sep European Open England 600,000 England David Gilford (6) 44
18 Sep Dunhill British Masters England 650,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (24) 50
25 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 600,000 Fiji Vijay Singh (6) 50 Limited-field event
3 Oct Mercedes German Masters Germany 625,000 Spain Seve Ballesteros (49) 48
23 Oct Madrid Open Spain – Cancelled –
23 Oct Chemapol Trophy Czech Open Czech Republic 500,000 Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson (2) 36 New to European Tour
30 Oct Volvo Masters Spain 750,000 Germany Bernhard Langer (32) 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
(£) 		Winner(s) OWGR
points 		Notes
17 Apr Tournoi Perrier de Paris France n/a England Peter Baker and
England David J. Russell 		n/a New tournament
Team event
9 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland US$1,500,000 Team Canada n/a Team event
16 Oct Toyota World Match Play Championship England 600,000 South Africa Ernie Els 46 Limited-field event
6 Nov Sarazen World Open United States US$1,900,000 South Africa Ernie Els 36 New tournament
13 Nov World Cup of Golf Puerto Rico US$1,200,000 United States Fred Couples and
United States Davis Love III 		n/a Team event
World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy United States Fred Couples n/a
18 Dec Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship Jamaica US$2,500,000 South Africa Ernie Els 60 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.[7]

Position Player Prize money (£)
1 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 762,719
2 Germany Bernhard Langer 635,483
3 Spain Seve Ballesteros 590,101
4 Spain José María Olazábal 516,107
5 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez 437,403
6 Fiji Vijay Singh 364,313
7 England David Gilford 326,629
8 England Nick Faldo 321,256
9 England Mark Roe 312,539
10 South Africa Ernie Els 311,849

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Golfer of the Year South Africa Ernie Els [8]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year England Jonathan Lomas [9]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A further three 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.

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. ^ "The Times calendar of sport 1994 | Golf". The Times. 31 December 1993. p. 38. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  3. ^ "Sporting Digest: Golf". The Independent. 19 January 1994. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2010.[dead link]
  4. ^ "Fast lane | Czech it out!". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 24 January 1994. p. 20. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Sport in brief | Golf". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. 21 June 1994. p. 19. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "1994 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  7. ^ Hopkins, John (31 October 1994). "Ballesteros denied home rule". The Times. p. 23. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  8. ^ "Els walks off with new prize". Reading Evening Post. Reading, United Kingdom. 22 December 1994. p. 23. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Lomas joins the golfing greats with rookie win". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 16 November 1994. p. 18. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

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