1994 European Tour
The 1994 European Tour, titled as the 1994 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 23rd season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
| Duration | 13 January 1994 – 30 October 1994 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 38[lower-alpha 1] |
| Most wins |  Colin Montgomerie (3) José María Olazábal (3) |
| Order of Merit | Colin Montgomerie |
| Golfer of the Year |  Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Jonathan Lomas |
← 1993 1995 → | |
It was the seventh season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Volvo, that was announced in May 1987.[1]
Changes for 1994
The season was made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[2]
Aside from scheduling, initially there was just one change from the previous season, with the addition of the Extremadura Open. This created a sequence of five consecutive tournaments in Spain through February and March, and a total of nine events in the country although the Madrid Open would later be cancelled.
Shortly after the start of the season, the Roma Masters was cancelled and replaced by the Tournoi Perrier de Paris, a team event with prize money not counting towards the Order of Merit.[3] In late January, a further tournament was added to the schedule with the inaugural Chemapol Trophy Czech Open, opposite the Toyota World Match Play Championship in mid-October.[4] The Madrid Open, originally scheduled for 20–23 October, was cancelled with the Chemapol Trophy Czech Open taking the dates.[5] In addition, the Kronenbourg Open was not held.
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 1994 season.[6]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (£) |
Winner[lower-alpha 2] | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Jan | Madeira Island Open | Portugal | 250,000 |  Mats Lanner (2) |
20 | |
| 23 Jan | Moroccan Open | Morocco | 350,000 | Anders Forsbrand (5) |
20 | |
| 30 Jan | Dubai Desert Classic | UAE | US$700,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Ernie Els (1) |
46 | |
| 6 Feb | Johnnie Walker Classic | Thailand | 600,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Greg Norman (14) |
54 | |
| 13 Feb | Turespaña Open De Tenerife | Spain | 250,000 | David Gilford (5) |
20 | |
| 20 Feb | Extremadura Open | Spain | 250,000 | Paul Eales (1) |
20 | New tournament |
| 27 Feb | Turespaña Masters Open de Andalucía | Spain | 300,000 | Carl Mason (1) |
24 | |
| 6 Mar | Turespaña Open Mediterrania | Spain | 300,000 | José María Olazábal (14) |
26 | |
| 13 Mar | Turespaña Open de Baleares | Spain | 250,000 | Barry Lane (4) |
20 | |
| 20 Mar | Portuguese Open | Portugal | 300,000 |  Phillip Price (1) |
22 | |
| Kronenbourg Open | Italy | – | Cancelled | – | ||
| 4 Apr | Open V33 Grand Lyon | France | 225,000 |  Stephen Ames (1) |
20 | |
| 10 Apr | Masters Tournament | United States | US$2,000,000 | José María Olazábal (15) |
100 | Major championship[lower-alpha 3] |
| Roma Masters | Italy | – | Cancelled | – | ||
| 24 Apr | Heineken Open Catalonia | Spain | 300,000 |  José Cóceres (1) |
20 | |
| 1 May | Air France Cannes Open | France | 300,000 | Ian Woosnam (23) |
38 | |
| 8 May | Benson & Hedges International Open | England | 650,000 | Seve Ballesteros (48) |
48 | |
| 15 May | Peugeot Spanish Open | Spain | 500,000 | Colin Montgomerie (5) |
42 | |
| 22 May | Tisettanta Italian Open | Italy | 450,000 | Eduardo Romero (5) |
28 | |
| 30 May | Volvo PGA Championship | England | 800,000 | José María Olazábal (16) |
64 | Flagship event |
| 5 Jun | Alfred Dunhill Open | Belgium | 600,000 | Nick Faldo (29) |
46 | |
| 12 Jun | Honda Open | Germany | 500,000 | Robert Allenby (1) |
38 | |
| 19 Jun | Jersey European Airways Open | Jersey | 350,000 | Paul Curry (1) |
20 | |
| 20 Jun | U.S. Open | United States | US$1,700,000 | Ernie Els (2) |
100 | Major championship[lower-alpha 3] |
| 26 Jun | Peugeot Open de France | France | 550,000 | Mark Roe (3) |
36 | |
| 3 Jul | Murphy's Irish Open | Ireland | 600,000 |  Bernhard Langer (31) |
48 | |
| 9 Jul | Bell's Scottish Open | Scotland | 600,000 | Carl Mason (2) |
44 | |
| 17 Jul | The Open Championship | Scotland | 1,000,000 |  Nick Price (4) |
100 | Major championship |
| 24 Jul | Heineken Dutch Open | Netherlands | 650,000 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2) |
44 | |
| 31 Jul | Scandinavian Masters | Sweden | 650,000 |  Vijay Singh (5) |
40 | |
| 7 Aug | BMW International Open | Germany | 525,000 | Mark McNulty (12) |
36 | |
| 14 Aug | Hohe Brücke Open | Austria | 250,000 | Mark Davis (2) |
20 | |
| 14 Aug | PGA Championship | United States | US$1,750,000 | Nick Price (5) |
100 | Major championship[lower-alpha 3] |
| 21 Aug | Murphy's English Open | England | 600,000 | Colin Montgomerie (6) |
38 | |
| 28 Aug | Volvo German Open | Germany | 650,000 | Colin Montgomerie (7) |
38 | |
| 4 Sep | Canon European Masters | Switzerland | 675,000 | Eduardo Romero (6) |
44 | |
| 11 Sep | European Open | England | 600,000 | David Gilford (6) |
44 | |
| 18 Sep | Dunhill British Masters | England | 650,000 | Ian Woosnam (24) |
50 | |
| 25 Sep | Trophée Lancôme | France | 600,000 | Vijay Singh (6) |
50 | Limited-field event |
| 3 Oct | Mercedes German Masters | Germany | 625,000 | Seve Ballesteros (49) |
48 | |
| Madrid Open | Spain | – | Cancelled | – | ||
| 23 Oct | Chemapol Trophy Czech Open | Czech Republic | 500,000 | Per-Ulrik Johansson (2) |
36 | New to European Tour |
| 30 Oct | Volvo Masters | Spain | 750,000 | Bernhard Langer (32) |
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 (£) |
Winner(s) | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 Apr | Tournoi Perrier de Paris | France | n/a | Peter Baker and David J. Russell |
n/a | New tournament Team event |
| 9 Oct | Dunhill Cup | Scotland | US$1,500,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Team Canada |
n/a | Team event |
| 16 Oct | Toyota World Match Play Championship | England | 600,000 | Ernie Els |
46 | Limited-field event |
| 6 Nov | Sarazen World Open | United States | US$1,900,000 | Ernie Els |
36 | New tournament |
| 13 Nov | World Cup of Golf | Puerto Rico | US$1,200,000 |  Fred Couples and Davis Love III |
n/a | Team event |
| World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy | Fred Couples |
n/a | ||||
| 18 Dec | Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship | Jamaica | US$2,500,000 | Ernie Els |
60 | Limited-field 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 Pound sterling.[7]
| Position | Player | Prize money (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colin Montgomerie | 762,719 |
| 2 | Bernhard Langer | 635,483 |
| 3 | Seve Ballesteros | 590,101 |
| 4 | José María Olazábal | 516,107 |
| 5 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez | 437,403 |
| 6 | Vijay Singh | 364,313 |
| 7 | David Gilford | 326,629 |
| 8 | Nick Faldo | 321,256 |
| 9 | Mark Roe | 312,539 |
| 10 | Ernie Els | 311,849 |
Awards
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els | [8] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Jonathan Lomas | [9] |
Notes
- A further three tournaments were scheduled but were cancelled.
- 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.
- Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
References
- White, Graeme (26 May 1987). "Volvo boost for Euro golf". Black Country Evening Mail. West Bromwich, United Kingdom. p. 33. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- "The Times calendar of sport 1994 | Golf". The Times. 31 December 1993. p. 38. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- "Sporting Digest: Golf". The Independent. 19 January 1994. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
- "Fast lane | Czech it out!". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 24 January 1994. p. 20. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "Sport in brief | Golf". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. 21 June 1994. p. 19. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "1994 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- Hopkins, John (31 October 1994). "Ballesteros denied home rule". The Times. p. 23. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- "Els walks off with new prize". Reading Evening Post. Reading, United Kingdom. 22 December 1994. p. 23. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Lomas joins the golfing greats with rookie win". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 16 November 1994. p. 18. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.