1997 European Tour season
Duration23 January 1997 (1997-01-23) – 2 November 1997 (1997-11-02)
Number of official events38
Most winsGermany Bernhard Langer (4)
Order of MeritScotland Colin Montgomerie
Golfer of the YearScotland Colin Montgomerie
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearScotland Scott Henderson
← 1996
1998 →

The 1997 European Tour, titled as the 1997 PGA European Tour,[1] was the 26th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 1997

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the South African Open, which replaced the FNB Players Championship, and the loss of the Catalan Open, the Austrian Open and the Scottish Open, which was effectively superseded by the Loch Lomond World Invitational.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.[2][3]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£) 		Winner[a] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[b] 		Notes
26 Jan Johnnie Walker Classic Australia 700,000 South Africa Ernie Els (4) 44 ANZ
2 Feb Heineken Classic Australia A$1,100,000 Spain Miguel Ángel Martín (2) 40 ANZ
9 Feb South African Open South Africa 500,000 Fiji Vijay Singh (7) 34 AFR New to European Tour
16 Feb Dimension Data Pro-Am South Africa 400,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (6) 26 AFR Pro-Am
23 Feb Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship South Africa 300,000 Zimbabwe Nick Price (7) 24 AFR
2 Mar Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$1,200,000 Australia Richard Green (1) 40
9 Mar Moroccan Open Morocco 350,000 South Africa Clinton Whitelaw (1) 20
16 Mar Portuguese Open Portugal 350,000 Sweden Michael Jonzon (1) 20
23 Mar Turespaña Masters Open de Canarias Spain 375,000 Spain José María Olazábal (17) 20
30 Mar Madeira Island Open Portugal 300,000 England Peter Mitchell (2) 20
13 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$2,700,000 United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 100 Major championship[c]
20 Apr Europe 1 Cannes Open France 300,000 England Stuart Cage (1) 20
27 Apr Peugeot Open de España Spain 500,000 England Mark James (18) 38
4 May Conte of Florence Italian Open Italy 450,000 Germany Bernhard Langer (36) 28
11 May Benson & Hedges International Open England 700,000 Germany Bernhard Langer (37) 36
18 May Alamo English Open England 650,000 Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson (4) 34
26 May Volvo PGA Championship England 1,100,000 Wales Ian Woosnam (29) 64 Flagship event
1 Jun Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe Germany 750,000 England Ross McFarlane (1) 26
8 Jun Compaq European Grand Prix England 650,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (13) 26
15 Jun U.S. Open United States US$2,600,000 South Africa Ernie Els (5) 100 Major championship[c]
22 Jun Volvo German Open Germany 700,000 Spain Ignacio Garrido (1) 24
29 Jun Peugeot Open de France France 600,000 South Africa Retief Goosen (2) 34
6 Jul Murphy's Irish Open Ireland 675,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (14) 38
12 Jul Gulfstream Loch Lomond World Invitational Scotland 800,000 United States Tom Lehman (n/a) 50
20 Jul The Open Championship Scotland 1,600,000 United States Justin Leonard (n/a) 100 Major championship
27 Jul Sun Microsystems Dutch Open Netherlands 700,000 Germany Sven Strüver (2) 20
3 Aug Volvo Scandinavian Masters Sweden 750,000 Sweden Joakim Haeggman (2) 34
10 Aug Chemapol Trophy Czech Open Czech Republic 800,000 Germany Bernhard Langer (38) 24
17 Aug PGA Championship United States US$2,600,000 United States Davis Love III (n/a) 100 Major championship[c]
24 Aug Smurfit European Open Ireland 850,000 Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson (5) 32
31 Aug BMW International Open Germany 750,000 Sweden Robert Karlsson (2) 36
7 Sep Canon European Masters Switzerland 800,000 Italy Costantino Rocca (4) 32
14 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 700,000 United States Mark O'Meara (n/a) 42
21 Sep One 2 One British Masters England 750,000 New Zealand Greg Turner (4) 30
5 Oct Linde German Masters Germany 750,000 Germany Bernhard Langer (39) 38
26 Oct Oki Pro-Am Spain 450,000 Republic of Ireland Paul McGinley (2) 20
2 Nov Volvo Masters Spain 1,000,000 England Lee Westwood (2) 28 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
28 Sep Ryder Cup Spain n/a Team Europe n/a Team event
12 Oct Toyota World Match Play Championship England 650,000 Fiji Vijay Singh 42 Limited-field event
12 Oct Open Novotel Perrier France n/a Sweden Anders Forsbrand and
Sweden Michael Jonzon 		n/a Team event
19 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland 1,000,000 Team South Africa n/a Team event
9 Nov Subaru Sarazen World Open United States US$2,000,000 United States Mark Calcavecchia 40
23 Nov World Cup of Golf United States US$1,300,000 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington and
Republic of Ireland Paul McGinley 		n/a Team event
World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy US$200,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie n/a
4 Jan Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf United States US$3,650,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 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.[4][5]

Position Player Prize money (£)
1 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 798,947
2 Germany Bernhard Langer 692,398
3 England Lee Westwood 588,718
4 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke 537,409
5 Wales Ian Woosnam 503,562
6 Spain Ignacio Garrido 411,479
7 South Africa Retief Goosen 394,597
8 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 388,982
9 Spain José María Olazábal 385,648
10 Sweden Robert Karlsson 364,542

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Golfer of the Year Scotland Colin Montgomerie [6]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Scotland Scott Henderson [7]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.
  3. ^ 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. ^ "1997 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  3. ^ Hopkins, John (1 November 1996). "Schofield accepts the need for Tour to rebuild confidence". The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 48. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  4. ^ "European Order of Merit". The Times. London, United Kingdom. 5 November 1997. p. 50. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. ^ "The full Monty...". Cambridge Evening News. Cambridge, United Kingdom. 3 November 1997. p. 27. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Full year for Monty". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 30 November 1997. p. 100 (105 in paper). Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Ryder Cup hero Colin Montgomerie has beaten off competition from South Africa's Ernie Els to win the European Tour's Golfer of the Year award for the third year in a row.
  7. ^ "Henderson rewarded after fine rookie season". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 10 December 1997. p. 19. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

European Tour seasons
Categories