1988 European Tour

The 1988 European Tour, titled as the 1988 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour. It marked the beginning of a long association for the tour with Swedish car maker Volvo, who became the tour's first official title sponsor.[1][2][3]

1988 European Tour season
Duration10 March 1988 (1988-03-10) – 30 October 1988 (1988-10-30)
Number of official events29[lower-alpha 1]
Most wins5:
Seve Ballesteros
Volvo Order of Merit Seve Ballesteros
Golfer of the Year Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Colin Montgomerie
← 1987
1989 →

The Order of Merit was won by Spain's Seve Ballesteros.

Changes for 1988

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Open de Baleares, the Biarritz Open, the English Open and the Volvo Masters; the return of the Barcelona Open, which had been cancelled due to bad weather in 1987; and the loss of the Lawrence Batley International.[1][4] The Moroccan Open, originally scheduled to open the season, was initially postponed until October but ultimately cancelled.[5]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1988 season. The season was made up of 29 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[6]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)		 Winner[lower-alpha 2] OWGR
points		 Notes
13 Mar Mallorca Open De Baleares Spain 200,000 Seve Ballesteros (35) 20 New tournament
20 Mar Torras Hostench Barcelona Open Spain 200,000 David Whelan (1) 18
3 Apr AGF Biarritz Open France 150,000 David Llewellyn (1) 16 New tournament
10 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$1,000,000 Sandy Lyle (14) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
17 Apr Cannes Open France 200,000 Mark McNulty (7) 20
24 Apr Cepsa Madrid Open Spain 200,000 Derrick Cooper (1) 22
1 May Portuguese Open Portugal 200,000 Mike Harwood (1) 18
8 May Epson Grand Prix of Europe Matchplay Championship Wales 275,000 Bernhard Langer (19) 40
15 May Peugeot Spanish Open Spain 175,000 Mark James (9) 38
22 May Lancia Italian Open Italy 225,000 Greg Norman (12) 24
30 May Volvo PGA Championship England 300,000 Ian Woosnam (9) 44
5 Jun Dunhill British Masters England 250,000 Sandy Lyle (15) 42
12 Jun Wang Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity England 200,000 Rodger Davis (3) 20
19 Jun Volvo Belgian Open Belgium 200,000 José María Olazábal (3) 16
19 Jun U.S. Open United States US$1,000,000 Curtis Strange (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
26 Jun Peugeot Open de France France 275,000 Nick Faldo (14) 40
2 Jul Monte Carlo Open France 200,000 José Rivero (3) 24
9 Jul Bell's Scottish Open Scotland 250,000 Barry Lane (1) 44
17 Jul The Open Championship England 500,000 Seve Ballesteros (36) 100 Major championship
24 Jul KLM Dutch Open Netherlands 250,000 Mark Mouland (2) 34
31 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden 250,000 Seve Ballesteros (37) 34
7 Aug Benson & Hedges International Open England 250,000 Peter Baker (1) 38
14 Aug PLM Open Sweden 200,000 Frank Nobilo (1) 16
14 Aug PGA Championship United States US$1,000,000 Jeff Sluman (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 3]
21 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Ireland 225,000 Ian Woosnam (10) 42
28 Aug German Open West Germany 275,000 Seve Ballesteros (38) 38
4 Sep Ebel European Masters Swiss Open Switzerland 400,000 Chris Moody (1) 44
11 Sep Panasonic European Open England 300,000 Ian Woosnam (11) 42
18 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 400,000 Seve Ballesteros (39) 46
25 Sep German Masters West Germany 300,000 José María Olazábal (4) 44
2 Oct English Open England 175,000 Howard Clark (11) 16 New tournament
9 Oct
6 Mar		 Moroccan Open Morocco – Cancelled –
23 Oct BNP Jersey Open Jersey 125,000 Des Smyth (6) 16
30 Oct Volvo Masters Spain 350,000 Nick Faldo (15) 44 New tournament

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
10 Oct Suntory World Match Play Championship England 275,000 Sandy Lyle 32 12-player field
16 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland US$1,000,000 Team England n/a Team event
18 Oct Equity & Law Challenge England 125,000 Ronan Rafferty n/a
27 Oct UAP European Under-25 Championship France n/a Jean van de Velde n/a
6 Nov Europcar Cup France n/a Team Sweden n/a Team event
13 Nov Benson & Hedges Trophy Spain 200,000 Mark McNulty and
Marie-Laure Taya		 n/a Team event
11 Dec World Cup Australia US$750,000 Ben Crenshaw and
Mark McCumber		 n/a Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy Ben Crenshaw n/a
18 Dec Kirin Cup United States US$1,000,000 Team USA n/a Team event

Order of Merit

The PGA European Tour's money list was known as the "Volvo Order of Merit". It was based on prize money earned during the season and calculated in Pound sterling.[2]

PositionPlayerPrize money
(£)
1 Seve Ballesteros451,560
2 Nick Faldo347,971
3 José María Olazábal285,964
4 Ian Woosnam234,991
5 Sandy Lyle186,018
6 Mark McNulty180,992
7 Des Smyth171,951
8 Mark James152,900
9 Ronan Rafferty132,395
10 José Rivero131,079

Awards
AwardWinner
European Tour Golfer of the Year Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Colin Montgomerie

See also

Notes
  1. A further one tournament was scheduled but was cancelled.
  2. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names show the number of official career wins they had on the European Tour up to and including that event. Totals are only shown for members of the European Tour 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. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.
  3. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References
  1. Davies, David (1 December 1987). "Rich pickings for Europe's Volvo drivers". The Guardian. London, England. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  3. "Twenty Five Years of the European PGA Tour". World Golf. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  4. "At last! English get their own Open". Irish Independent. 26 January 1988. p. 15. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "Sport in brief | Open closed". The Times. 12 September 1988. p. 38. Retrieved 26 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  6. Platts, Mitchell (1 December 1987). "Shooting for £10m in the rosy tour garden of Europe". The Times. p. 42. Retrieved 26 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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