2009 European Tour season

Duration	6 November 2008 (2008-11-06) – 22 November 2009 (2009-11-22)
Number of official events	51[a]
Most wins	Paul Casey (2)[b] Simon Dyson (2) Martin Kaymer (2) Thongchai Jaidee (2) Richard Sterne (2) Lee Westwood (2)
Race to Dubai	Lee Westwood
Golfer of the Year	Lee Westwood
Players' Player of the Year	Lee Westwood
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Chris Wood
← 2008 2010 →

The 2009 European Tour was the 38th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Race to Dubai introduction

There were major changes for the 2009 season as the tour entered a partnership agreement with Dubai based Leisurecorp. The Order of Merit was renamed as the Race to Dubai, with a bonus pool of US$7.5 million^[1][2] (originally $10 million) distributed among the top 15 players at the end of the season, with the winner taking $1.5 million^[2] (originally $2 million). The new name reflected the addition of a new season ending tournament, the Dubai World Championship, held at the end of November in Dubai. The tournament also had a $7.5 million prize fund^[2] (originally $10 million), and was contested by the leading 60 players in the race following the season's penultimate event, the Hong Kong Open. The winner of the Race to Dubai also received a ten-year European Tour exemption, while the winner of the Dubai World Championship received a five-year exemption.^[3][4] The reduction in prize money, announced in September 2009,^[2] was due to the global economic downturn.

Changes for 2009

Changes for the 2009 season included two new tournaments, the Moravia Silesia Open in the Czech Republic and the Dubai World Championship, the addition of the Singapore Open, and the return of the Volvo World Match Play Championship after being cancelled in 2008. In addition, as a result of plans to realign the schedule with the calendar year for 2010, the HSBC Champions, Hong Kong Open and the Australian Masters were held twice during the 2009 season. The HSBC Champions became a World Golf Championships event effective with its November 2009 edition.

In December 2008 the Indian Masters, scheduled for February, was cancelled due to fallout from the ongoing financial crisis,^[5] and then in January 2009 it was announced that the revival of the English Open, scheduled for August, would be postponed for at least two years after developers of the St. Mellion International Resort ran into financial difficulties.^[6] In May it was announced that due to lack of sponsorship the British Masters had also been dropped from the schedule, with the Austrian Open being rescheduled from June to take its place on the calendar in September.^[7]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2009 season.^[8][9]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse	Winner[c]	OWGR points	Other tours[d]	Notes
10 Nov	HSBC Champions	China	US$5,000,000	Sergio García (8)	52	AFR, ANZ, ASA	Limited-field event
23 Nov	UBS Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	US$2,250,000	Lin Wen-tang (1)	32	ASA
30 Nov	Sportsbet Australian Masters	Australia	A$1,500,000	Rod Pampling (1)	22	ANZ
14 Dec	Alfred Dunhill Championship	South Africa	€1,000,000	Richard Sterne (4)	24	AFR
21 Dec	South African Open Championship	South Africa	€1,000,000	Richard Sterne (5)	40	AFR[e]
11 Jan	Joburg Open	South Africa	€1,100,000	Anders Hansen (3)	20	AFR
18 Jan	Abu Dhabi Golf Championship	UAE	US$2,000,000	Paul Casey (9)	48
25 Jan	Commercialbank Qatar Masters	Qatar	US$2,500,000	Álvaro Quirós (3)	54
1 Feb	Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$2,500,000	Rory McIlroy (1)	52
8 Feb	Indian Masters	India	–	Cancelled	–	ASA
15 Feb	Maybank Malaysian Open	Malaysia	US$2,000,000	Anthony Kang (1)	30	ASA
22 Feb	Johnnie Walker Classic	Australia	£1,250,000	Danny Lee (a) (1)	32	ANZ, ASA
1 Mar	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	United States	US$8,500,000	Geoff Ogilvy (4)	76		World Golf Championship
1 Mar	Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open	Indonesia	US$1,250,000	Thongchai Jaidee (3)	20	ASA
15 Mar	WGC-CA Championship	United States	US$8,500,000	Phil Mickelson (n/a)	78		World Golf Championship
22 Mar	Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal	Portugal	€700,000	Estanislao Goya (1)	24
29 Mar	Open de Andalucía	Spain	€1,000,000	Søren Kjeldsen (3)	24
5 Apr	Estoril Open de Portugal	Portugal	€1,250,000	Michael Hoey (1)	24
12 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$7,500,000	Ángel Cabrera (5)	100		Major championship
19 Apr	Volvo China Open	China	US$2,200,000	Scott Strange (2)	18	ONE
26 Apr	Ballantine's Championship	South Korea	€2,100,000	Thongchai Jaidee (4)	32	ASA, KOR
3 May	Open de España	Spain	€2,000,000	Thomas Levet (5)	24
10 May	BMW Italian Open	Italy	€1,300,000	Daniel Vancsik (2)	24
17 May	3 Irish Open	Ireland	€3,000,000	Shane Lowry (a) (1)	40
24 May	BMW PGA Championship	England	€4,500,000	Paul Casey (10)	64		Flagship event
31 May	European Open	England	£1,800,000	Christian Cévaër (2)	48
7 Jun	Celtic Manor Wales Open	Wales	£1,800,000	Jeppe Huldahl (1)	24
21 Jun	Saint-Omer Open	France	€600,000	Christian Nilsson (1)	18	CHA
22 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$7,500,000	Lucas Glover (n/a)	100		Major championship
28 Jun	BMW International Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Nick Dougherty (3)	36
5 Jul	Open de France Alstom	France	€4,000,000	Martin Kaymer (3)	44
12 Jul	Barclays Scottish Open	Scotland	£3,000,000	Martin Kaymer (4)	54
19 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	£4,200,000	Stewart Cink (1)	100		Major championship
26 Jul	SAS Masters	Sweden	€1,000,000	Ricardo González (4)	24
2 Aug	Moravia Silesia Open	Czech Republic	€2,000,000	Oskar Henningsson (1)	24
9 Aug	WGC-Bridgestone Invitational	United States	US$8,500,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	76		World Golf Championship
16 Aug	English Open	England	–	Cancelled	–
16 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$7,500,000	Yang Yong-eun (2)	100		Major championship
23 Aug	KLM Open	Netherlands	€1,800,000	Simon Dyson (3)	24
30 Aug	Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles	Scotland	£1,400,000	Peter Hedblom (3)	24
6 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	€2,000,000	Alex Norén (1)	32	ASA
13 Sep	Mercedes-Benz Championship	Germany	€2,000,000	James Kingston (2)	40		Limited-field event
20 Sep	British Masters	England	–	Cancelled	–
20 Sep 14 Jun	Austrian Golf Open	Austria	€1,000,000	Rafa Cabrera-Bello (1)	24
5 Oct	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	US$5,000,000	Simon Dyson (4)	46		Pro-Am
11 Oct	Madrid Masters	Spain	€1,500,000	Ross McGowan (1)	26
18 Oct	Portugal Masters	Portugal	€3,000,000	Lee Westwood (19)	46
25 Oct	Castelló Masters Costa Azahar	Spain	€2,000,000	Michael Jonzon (2)	28
1 Nov	Barclays Singapore Open	Singapore	US$5,000,000	Ian Poulter (8)	46	ASA	New to European Tour
1 Nov	Volvo World Match Play Championship	Spain	€3,250,000	Ross Fisher (3)	42		Limited-field event
8 Nov	WGC-HSBC Champions	China	US$7,000,000	Phil Mickelson (n/a)	66		World Golf Championship
15 Nov	JBWere Masters	Australia	A$1,500,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	28	ANZ
15 Nov	UBS Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	US$2,500,000	Grégory Bourdy (3)	44	ASA
22 Nov	Dubai World Championship	UAE	US$7,500,000	Lee Westwood (20)	56		New tournament 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
11 Jan	Royal Trophy	Thailand	€1,000,000	Team Asia	n/a	Team event
27 Sep	Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros	France	€1,150,000	Team GB&I	n/a	Team event
30 Nov	Omega Mission Hills World Cup	China	US$5,500,000	Edoardo Molinari and Francesco Molinari	n/a	Team event

Location of tournaments

Location of official tournaments of the 2009 European Tour in Europe. Major Championship Flagship event Regular event

( &) x2 Location of official tournaments of the 2009 European Tour outside Europe. Major Championship World Golf Championship Tour Championship Regular event South Africa United Arab Emirates

Race to Dubai

The Race to Dubai was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.^[10][11]

Pos.	Player		Majors					WGCs					Principal events			Top 10s in other ET events									Tmts		Money
			Mas	USO	Opn	PGA		WGC MP	WGC CA	WGC Inv	WGC Cha		BMW PGA	Dub		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8				Reg. (€)	Bon. ($)	Total (€)
1	Westwood		43rd	T23	T3	T3		T17	T61	9th	T8		CUT	1st		T3	T7	2nd	T8	T8	T9	1st	T9		26		3,240,952	1,500,000	4,237,762
2	McIlroy		T20	T10	T47	T3		T5	T20	T68	4th		5th	3rd		T2	T3	T5	1st	T7	T2	T5	T2		25		2,862,413	1,125,000	3,610,020
3	Kaymer		CUT	CUT	T34	T6		T17	T35	T60	T6		T11	T37		T2	T4	1st	1st	T2					20		2,365,937	750,000	2,864,342
4	R. Fisher		T30	5th	T13	T19		4th	T46	43rd	T28		2nd	T42		T8	1st								22		2,132,459	600,000	2,531,183
5	Casey		T20	CUT	T47	•		2nd	T31	WD	WD		1st	•		1st	T4	T10							14		2,014,063	525,000	2,362,947
6	Ogilvy		T15	T47	CUT	T43		1st	T40	T22	T10		•	T4		T3									13		1,903,771	450,000	2,202,814
7	Wilson		CUT	T23	T24	T19		T9	T5	T11	T45		CUT	T16		2nd	T6	T2	T5						25		1,736,035	412,500	2,010,158
8	Dyson		•	CUT	•	•		•	•	•	T28		T16	T37		T7	T2	T6	1st	T7	T3	1st	8th		32		1,558,550	375,000	1,807,753
9	Poulter		T20	T18	CUT	T19		T9	T13	T15	T45		•	T9		3rd	1st	T5							15		1,549,187	337,500	1,773,470
10	García		T38	T10	T38	CUT		T33	T31	T22	T23		•	T7		1st	T8	T7	4th	T9					17		1,461,426	300,000	1,660,788
11	Els		CUT	CUT	T8	T6		T5	T20	T29	2nd		T21	T50		T3	T4								17		1,397,135	262,500	1,571,577
12	McGowan		•	•	•	•		•	•	•	•		CUT	2nd		T2	3rd	6th	1st						30		1,396,826	243,750	1,558,808
13	Kjeldsen		CUT	•	T27	T6		T33	T7	T68	T10		3rd	T30		1st	T9	T4							26		1,379,731	225,000	1,529,253
14	F. Molinari		•	T27	T13	T10		•	•	•	T10		T35	T30		T2	T3	3rd	T6	2nd	T3				27		1,367,949	206,250	1,505,010
15	Harrington		T35	CUT	T65	T10		T33	T20	T2	T25		•	T4		T5	3rd								16		1,343,631	187,500	1,468,232

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Lee Westwood	[12]
Players' Player of the Year	Lee Westwood	[13]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Chris Wood	[14]