2008 European Tour season
Duration8 November 2007 (2007-11-08) – 2 November 2008 (2008-11-02)
Number of official events52
Most winsNorthern Ireland Darren Clarke (2)[a]
England Richard Finch (2)
Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (2)
Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2)
Sweden Robert Karlsson (2)
Germany Martin Kaymer (2)
Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell (2)
Order of MeritSweden Robert Karlsson
Golfer of the YearRepublic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
Players' Player of the YearRepublic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearSpain 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, 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.[2]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2008 season.[3]

Date Tournament Host country Purse Winner[b] OWGR
points 		Other
tours[c] 		Notes
11 Nov HSBC Champions China US$5,000,000 United States Phil Mickelson (n/a) 52 AFR, ANZ, ASA Limited-field event
18 Nov UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong US$2,250,000 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (14) 36 ASA
25 Nov MasterCard Masters Australia A$1,500,000 Australia Aaron Baddeley (n/a) 24 ANZ
2 Dec Michael Hill New Zealand Open New Zealand NZ$1,500,000 England Richard Finch (1) 20 ANZ
9 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship South Africa €1,000,000 England John Bickerton (3) 22 AFR
16 Dec South African Airways Open South Africa €1,000,000 South Africa James Kingston (1) 32 AFR[d]
13 Jan Joburg Open South Africa €1,100,000 South Africa Richard Sterne (3) 20 AFR
20 Jan Abu Dhabi Golf Championship UAE US$2,000,000 Germany Martin Kaymer (1) 44
27 Jan Commercialbank Qatar Masters Qatar US$2,500,000 Australia Adam Scott (6) 46
3 Feb Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$2,500,000 United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 50
10 Feb Emaar-MGF Indian Masters India US$2,500,000 India Shiv Chawrasia (1) 26 ASA New tournament
17 Feb Singapore Masters Singapore – Cancelled – ASA
17 Feb Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open Indonesia US$1,200,000 Chile Felipe Aguilar (1) 20 ASA
24 Feb WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship United States US$8,000,000 United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championship
2 Mar Johnnie Walker Classic India £1,250,000 New Zealand Mark Brown (1) 38 ANZ, ASA
9 Mar Maybank Malaysian Open Malaysia US$2,000,000 India Arjun Atwal (3) 24 ASA
16 Mar Ballantine's Championship South Korea €2,000,000 Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell (3) 28 ASA, KOR New tournament
23 Mar Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal Portugal €700,000 Scotland Alastair Forsyth (2) 24
23 Mar WGC-CA Championship United States US$8,000,000 Australia Geoff Ogilvy (3) 76 World Golf Championship
30 Mar MAPFRE Open de Andalucia Spain €1,000,000 France Thomas Levet (4) 24
6 Apr Estoril Open de Portugal Portugal €1,250,000 France Grégory Bourdy (2) 24
13 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$7,500,000 South Africa Trevor Immelman (4) 100 Major championship
20 Apr Volvo China Open China US$2,200,000 Republic of Ireland Damien McGrane (1) 20 ASA
27 Apr BMW Asian Open China US$2,300,000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (11) 32 ASA
4 May Open de España Spain €2,000,000 Republic of Ireland Peter Lawrie (1) 24
11 May Methorios Capital Italian Open Italy €1,700,000 South Africa Hennie Otto (1) 24
18 May Irish Open Ireland €2,500,000 England Richard Finch (2) 28
25 May BMW PGA Championship England €4,500,000 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (15) 64 Flagship event
1 Jun Celtic Manor Wales Open Wales £1,800,000 Australia Scott Strange (1) 36
8 Jun Bank Austria GolfOpen Austria €1,300,000 India Jeev Milkha Singh (3) 24
15 Jun U.S. Open United States US$7,500,000 United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 100 Major championship
15 Jun Saint-Omer Open France €600,000 England David Dixon (1) 18 CHA
22 Jun BMW International Open Germany €2,000,000 Germany Martin Kaymer (2) 30
29 Jun Open de France Alstom France €4,000,000 Spain Pablo Larrazábal (1) 38
6 Jul European Open England £2,400,000 England Ross Fisher (2) 40
13 Jul Barclays Scottish Open Scotland £3,000,000 Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell (4) 50
20 Jul The Open Championship England £4,200,000 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (13) 100 Major championship
27 Jul Inteco Russian Open Golf Championship Russia US$2,000,000 Sweden Mikael Lundberg (2) 24
3 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational United States US$8,000,000 Fiji Vijay Singh (13) 74 World Golf Championship
10 Aug PGA Championship United States US$7,500,000 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (14) 100 Major championship
17 Aug SAS Masters Sweden €1,600,000 Sweden Peter Hanson (2) 24
24 Aug KLM Open Netherlands €1,800,000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (12) 30
31 Aug Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles Scotland £1,400,000 France Grégory Havret (3) 32
7 Sep Omega European Masters Switzerland €2,000,000 France Jean-François Lucquin (1) 24
14 Sep Mercedes-Benz Championship Germany €2,000,000 Sweden Robert Karlsson (8) 34 Limited-field event
28 Sep Quinn Insurance British Masters England £1,800,000 Spain Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (4) 30
5 Oct Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Scotland US$5,000,000 Sweden Robert Karlsson (9) 50 Pro-Am
12 Oct World Match Play Championship England – Cancelled –
12 Oct Madrid Masters Spain €1,000,000 South Africa Charl Schwartzel (3) 24 New tournament
19 Oct Portugal Masters Portugal €3,000,000 Spain Álvaro Quirós (2) 38
26 Oct Castelló Masters Costa Azahar Spain €2,000,000 Spain Sergio García (7) 38 New tournament
2 Nov Volvo Masters Spain €4,250,000 Denmark 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 Sweden Robert Karlsson and
Sweden Henrik Stenson 		n/a Team event

Location of tournaments

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.[4][5]

Position Player Prize money (€)
1 Sweden Robert Karlsson 2,732,748
2 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 2,459,109
3 England Lee Westwood 2,424,642
4 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez 2,066,596
5 Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell 1,859,346
6 England Ross Fisher 1,836,530
7 Sweden Henrik Stenson 1,798,617
8 Germany Martin Kaymer 1,794,500
9 Spain Sergio García 1,591,917
10 Denmark Søren Kjeldsen 1,440,979

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Golfer of the Year Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington [6]
Players' Player of the Year Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington [7]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Spain Pablo Larrazábal [8]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Tiger Woods won 3 events, but was not a European Tour member.
  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 − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour; KOR − Korean Tour.
  4. ^ Sunshine Tour flagship event

References

  1. ^ "Euro Tour to hit India and Korea". BBC Sport. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  2. ^ Mair, Lewine (23 June 2008). "Matchplay's 44-year run at Wentworth ends". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  3. ^ "2008 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  4. ^ "2008 Order of Merit". European Tour. Archived from the original on 3 November 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  5. ^ Donegan, Lawrence (3 November 2008). "Swede success for Karlsson in Order of Merit triumph". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Harrington named European Tour Golfer of the Year". Golf Monthly. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Harrington awarded by fellow players". Golf Business News. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Larrazabal named European rookie of year". CNN. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2023.

External links

European Tour seasons
Categories