1998 European Tour

The 1998 European Tour was the 27th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour.[1]

1998 European Tour season
Duration22 January 1998 (1998-01-22) – 1 November 1998 (1998-11-01)
Number of official events38[lower-alpha 1]
Most wins4:
Lee Westwood
Volvo Order of Merit Colin Montgomerie
Golfer of the Year Lee Westwood
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Olivier Edmond
← 1997
1999 →

The Order of Merit was won by Scotland's Colin Montgomerie for the sixth year in succession.[2]

Changes for 1998

For the first time the schedule included the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open and PGA Championship, although winnings did not count towards the Order of Merit. There were several changes from the previous season with the addition of the Qatar Masters, the return of the Belgian Open, and the loss of the Dimension Data Pro-Am.

In March, the Chemapol Trophy Czech Open was cancelled in the wake of severe floods across the country in July 1997;[3] it was later replaced on the schedule by the German Open.[4] In July, the tour announced the cancellation of the Oki Pro-Am.[5]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1998 season. The season was made up of 33 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[6][7]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)		 Winner[lower-alpha 2] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 3]		 Notes
25 Jan Johnnie Walker Classic Thailand 750,000 Tiger Woods (n/a) 40 ANZ
1 Feb Heineken Classic Australia A$1,200,000 Thomas Bjørn (2) 34 ANZ
8 Feb South African Open South Africa R3,600,000 Ernie Els (6) 30 AFR
15 Feb Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship South Africa R3,300,000 Tony Johnstone (5) 36 AFR
1 Mar Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$1,300,000 José María Olazábal (18) 42
8 Mar Qatar Masters Qatar US$1,000,000 Andrew Coltart (1) 30 New tournament
15 Mar Moroccan Open Morocco 350,000 Stephen Leaney (1) 20
22 Mar Portuguese Open Portugal 350,000 Peter Mitchell (3) 20
12 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$3,200,000 Mark O'Meara (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 4]
19 Apr Cannes Open France 300,000 Thomas Levet (1) 20
26 Apr Peugeot Open de España Spain 550,000 Thomas Bjørn (3) 28
3 May Italian Open Italy 500,000 Patrik Sjöland (1) 22
10 May Turespaña Masters Open Baleares Spain 350,000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez (3) 20
17 May Benson & Hedges International Open England 750,000 Darren Clarke (3) 36
25 May Volvo PGA Championship England 1,200,000 Colin Montgomerie (15) 64 Flagship event
1 Jun Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe Germany 1,100,000 Lee Westwood (3) 42
7 Jun National Car Rental English Open England 650,000 Lee Westwood (4) 34
8 Jun Compaq European Grand Prix England – Abandoned[lower-alpha 5] –
21 Jun Madeira Island Open Portugal 300,000 Mats Lanner (3) 20
21 Jun U.S. Open United States US$3,000,000 Lee Janzen (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 4]
28 Jun Peugeot Open de France France 500,000 Sam Torrance (21) 22
5 Jul Murphy's Irish Open Ireland 1,000,000 David Carter (1) 38
11 Jul Standard Life Loch Lomond Scotland 850,000 Lee Westwood (5) 42
19 Jul The Open Championship England 1,700,000 Mark O'Meara (n/a) 100 Major championship
26 Jul TNT Dutch Open Netherlands 800,000 Stephen Leaney (2) 36
2 Aug Volvo Scandinavian Masters Sweden 800,000 Jesper Parnevik (4) 34
9 Aug Chemapol Trophy Czech Open Czech Republic – Cancelled –
9 Aug German Open Germany 700,000 Stephen Allan (1) 20
16 Aug PGA Championship United States US$3,000,000 Vijay Singh (8) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 4]
23 Aug Smurfit European Open Ireland 1,200,000 Mathias Grönberg (2) 38
30 Aug BMW International Open Germany 850,000 Russell Claydon (1) 32
6 Sep Canon European Masters Switzerland 800,000 Sven Strüver (3) 34
13 Sep One 2 One British Masters England 750,000 Colin Montgomerie (16) 34
20 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 800,000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez (4) 44
27 Sep Linde German Masters Germany 1,000,000 Colin Montgomerie (17) 40
4 Oct Belgacom Open Belgium 400,000 Lee Westwood (6) 22
25 Oct Oki Pro-Am Spain – Cancelled –
1 Nov Volvo Masters Spain 1,000,000 Darren Clarke (4) 42

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
11 Oct Alfred Dunhill Cup Scotland 1,000,000 Team South Africa n/a Team event
18 Oct Cisco World Match Play Championship England 650,000 Mark O'Meara 44 12-player field
18 Oct Open Novotel Perrier France 350,000 Olle Karlsson and
Jarmo Sandelin		 n/a Team event
8 Nov Subaru Sarazen World Open United States US$2,000,000 Dudley Hart 38
22 Nov World Cup of Golf New Zealand US$1,300,000 David Carter and
Nick Faldo		 n/a Team event
World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy US$200,000 Scott Verplank n/a

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.[1][2]

PositionPlayerPrize money
(£)
1 Colin Montgomerie993,077
2 Darren Clarke902,867
3 Lee Westwood814,386
4 Miguel Ángel Jiménez518,819
5 Patrik Sjöland500,137
6 Thomas Bjørn470,798
7 José María Olazábal449,132
8 Ernie Els433,884
9 Andrew Coltart388,816
10 Mathias Grönberg358,779

Awards
AwardWinner
European Tour Golfer of the Year Lee Westwood
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Olivier Edmond

See also

Notes
  1. A further three tournaments were scheduled but were either cancelled or abandoned.
  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. AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.
  4. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
  5. Tournament abandoned due to persistent bad weather.[8]

References
  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. Hopkins, John (2 November 1998). "Montgomerie hits his rivals for six". The Times. London, England. p. 26. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  3. "Czech Open cancelled". The Irish Times. 19 March 1998. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  4. "In brief | Golf switch". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, Scotland. 20 March 1998. p. 38. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. Smith, Colm (29 July 1998). "KO for the OKI pro-am". Irish Independent. Dublin, Ireland. p. 25. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "Scoreboard | Golf | 1998 European schedule". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 25 September 1997. p. 45. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Davies, David (21 January 1998). "Faldo Ready for the year of the Tiger". The Guardian. London, England. p. 23. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Webb, Mel (15 June 1998). "Rain check costs Stewart dear". The Times. London, England. p. 42. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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