2003 European Tour season
Duration21 November 2002 (2002-11-21) – 2 November 2003 (2003-11-02)
Number of official events45
Most winsSouth Africa Ernie Els (4)
Order of MeritSouth Africa Ernie Els
Golfer of the YearSouth Africa Ernie Els
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearRepublic of Ireland Peter Lawrie
← 2002
2004 →

The 2003 European Tour was the 32nd season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 2003

There were four new tournaments to the European Tour in 2003, the Nordic Open[1] and three dual-ranking events, the Aa St Omer Open, BMW Russian Open and Mallorca Classic. Lost from the tour schedule were the English Open, Great North Open and the dual-ranking North West of Ireland Open.[2]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2003 season.[3]

Date Tournament Host country Purse Winner[a] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[b] 		Notes
24 Nov BMW Asian Open Taiwan US$1,500,000 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (6) 16 ASA
1 Dec Omega Hong Kong Open Hong Kong US$700,000 Sweden Freddie Jacobson (1) 16 ASA
12 Jan South African Airways Open South Africa £500,000 South Africa Trevor Immelman (1) 32 AFR[c]
19 Jan Dunhill Championship South Africa £500,000 England Mark Foster (1) 18 AFR
26 Jan Caltex Masters Singapore US$900,000 China Zhang Lianwei (1) 20 ASA
2 Feb Heineken Classic Australia A$2,000,000 South Africa Ernie Els (12) 30 ANZ
9 Feb ANZ Championship Australia A$1,750,000 England Paul Casey (2) 30 ANZ
16 Feb Johnnie Walker Classic Australia £1,000,000 South Africa Ernie Els (13) 44 ANZ, ASA
23 Feb Carlsberg Malaysian Open Malaysia US$1,100,000 India Arjun Atwal (2) 20 ASA
2 Mar WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship United States US$6,000,000 United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championship
9 Mar Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$2,000,000 Netherlands Robert-Jan Derksen (1) 30
16 Mar Qatar Masters Qatar US$1,500,000 South Africa Darren Fichardt (2) 24
23 Mar Madeira Island Open Portugal €600,000 Wales Bradley Dredge (1) 24 CHA
13 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$6,000,000 Canada Mike Weir (n/a) 100 Major championship
20 Apr Algarve Open de Portugal Portugal €1,250,000 Sweden Freddie Jacobson (2) 24
27 Apr Canarias Open de España Spain €1,750,000 England Kenneth Ferrie (1) 24
4 May Italian Open Telecom Italia Italy €1,100,000 Sweden Mathias Grönberg (4) 24
11 May Benson & Hedges International Open England £1,100,000 England Paul Casey (3) 42
18 May Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe Germany €2,700,000 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (7) 48
25 May Volvo PGA Championship England €3,500,000 Spain Ignacio Garrido (2) 64 Flagship event
1 Jun Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open Wales £1,500,000 England Ian Poulter (4) 24
8 Jun Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters England £1,500,000 England Greg Owen (1) 24
15 Jun Aa St Omer Open France €400,000 Australia Brett Rumford (1) 16 CHA New to European Tour
15 Jun U.S. Open United States US$6,000,000 United States Jim Furyk (n/a) 100 Major championship
22 Jun Diageo Championship at Gleneagles Scotland £1,200,000 Denmark Søren Kjeldsen (1) 24
29 Jun Open de France France €2,500,000 England Philip Golding (1) 24
6 Jul Smurfit European Open Ireland £2,000,000 Wales Phillip Price (3) 44
13 Jul Barclays Scottish Open Scotland £2,200,000 South Africa Ernie Els (14) 50
20 Jul The Open Championship England £3,900,000 United States Ben Curtis (1) 100 Major championship
27 Jul Nissan Irish Open Ireland €1,800,000 New Zealand Michael Campbell (6) 24
3 Aug Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters Sweden €1,900,000 Australia Adam Scott (4) 24
10 Aug Nordic Open Denmark €1,600,000 England Ian Poulter (5) 24 New tournament
17 Aug BMW Russian Open Russia €400,000 Australia Marcus Fraser (1) 16 CHA New to European Tour
17 Aug PGA Championship United States US$6,000,000 United States Shaun Micheel (n/a) 100 Major championship
24 Aug WGC-NEC Invitational United States US$6,000,000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (10) 78 World Golf Championship
31 Aug BMW International Open Germany €1,800,000 England Lee Westwood (15) 30
7 Sep Omega European Masters Switzerland €1,600,000 South Africa Ernie Els (15) 30
14 Sep Trophée Lancôme France €1,800,000 South Africa Retief Goosen (9) 26
21 Sep Linde German Masters Germany €3,000,000 South Korea K. J. Choi (n/a) 48
28 Sep Dunhill Links Championship Scotland US$5,000,000 England Lee Westwood (16) 52 Pro-Am
5 Oct WGC-American Express Championship United States US$6,000,000 United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championship
12 Oct Dutch Open Netherlands €1,000,000 Netherlands Maarten Lafeber (1) 24
19 Oct Turespaña Mallorca Classic Spain €400,000 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (7) 16 CHA New tournament
26 Oct Telefónica Open de Madrid Spain €1,400,000 Argentina Ricardo González (2) 30
2 Nov Volvo Masters Andalucía Spain US$4,000,000 Sweden Freddie Jacobson (3) 46 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
19 Oct HSBC World Match Play Championship England £2,300,000 South Africa Ernie Els n/a Limited-field event
9 Nov Seve Trophy Spain n/a Republic of Ireland Team GB&I n/a Team event
18 Nov WGC-World Cup United States US$4,000,000 South Africa Trevor Immelman and
South Africa Rory Sabbatini		 n/a World Golf Championship
Team 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 Euros.[4][5]

Position Player Prize money (€)
1 South Africa Ernie Els 2,975,374
2 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke 2,210,051
3 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 1,555,623
4 Sweden Freddie Jacobson 1,521,303
5 England Ian Poulter 1,500,855
6 England Paul Casey 1,360,456
7 England Lee Westwood 1,330,713
8 Denmark Thomas Bjørn 1,327,148
9 England Brian Davis 1,245,513
10 Wales Phillip Price 1,234,018

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Golfer of the Year South Africa Ernie Els [6]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Republic of Ireland Peter Lawrie [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 − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian PGA Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour.
  3. ^ Sunshine Tour flagship event

References

  1. ^ "Nordic Open will make debut in 2003". ESPN. Reuters. 6 November 2002. Retrieved 5 May 2003.
  2. ^ "Golf". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. 27 November 2002. p. 24 (2C in paper). Retrieved 5 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Russia will host its first top-tier European Tour event next year one of four new tournaments for 2003. The tour also added events in Denmark, France and Majorca. The English Open, the Great North Open in England and the North West of Ireland Open were dropped after sponsors withdrew.
  3. ^ "2003 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  4. ^ "2003 Order of Merit". European Tour. Archived from the original on 14 March 2005. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Els takes European title". BBC Sport. 18 October 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Els named European player of year". CNN. 11 December 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Lawrie Named Euro Tour Rookie of the Year". NBC Sports. 4 November 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2023.

External links

European Tour seasons
Categories