1998 European Tour

The 1998 European Tour, titled as the 1998 PGA European Tour,[1] was the 27th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

1998 European Tour season
Duration22 January 1998 (1998-01-22) – 1 November 1998 (1998-11-01)
Number of official events38[lower-alpha 1]
Most winsEngland Lee Westwood (4)
Order of MeritScotland Colin Montgomerie
Golfer of the YearEngland Lee Westwood
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearFrance Olivier Edmond
← 1997
1999 →

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;[2] it was later replaced on the schedule by the German Open.[3] In July, the tour announced the cancellation of the Oki Pro-Am.[4]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1998 season.[5][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 United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 40 ANZ
1 Feb Heineken Classic Australia A$1,200,000 Denmark Thomas Bjørn (2) 34 ANZ
8 Feb South African Open South Africa R3,600,000 South Africa Ernie Els (6) 30 AFR
15 Feb Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship South Africa R3,300,000 Zimbabwe Tony Johnstone (5) 36 AFR
1 Mar Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$1,300,000 Spain José María Olazábal (18) 42
8 Mar Qatar Masters Qatar US$1,000,000 Scotland Andrew Coltart (1) 30 New tournament
15 Mar Moroccan Open Morocco 350,000 Australia Stephen Leaney (1) 20
22 Mar Portuguese Open Portugal 350,000 England Peter Mitchell (3) 20
12 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$3,200,000 United States Mark O'Meara (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 4]
19 Apr Cannes Open France 300,000 France Thomas Levet (1) 20
26 Apr Peugeot Open de España Spain 550,000 Denmark Thomas Bjørn (3) 28
3 May Italian Open Italy 500,000 Sweden Patrik Sjöland (1) 22
10 May Turespaña Masters Open Baleares Spain 350,000 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (3) 20
17 May Benson & Hedges International Open England 750,000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (3) 36
25 May Volvo PGA Championship England 1,200,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (15) 64 Flagship event
1 Jun Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe Germany 1,100,000 England Lee Westwood (3) 42
7 Jun National Car Rental English Open England 650,000 England Lee Westwood (4) 34
14 Jun Compaq European Grand Prix England – Abandoned[lower-alpha 5] –
21 Jun Madeira Island Open Portugal 300,000 Sweden Mats Lanner (3) 20
21 Jun U.S. Open United States US$3,000,000 United States Lee Janzen (n/a) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 4]
28 Jun Peugeot Open de France France 500,000 Scotland Sam Torrance (21) 22
5 Jul Murphy's Irish Open Ireland 1,000,000 England David Carter (1) 38
11 Jul Standard Life Loch Lomond Scotland 850,000 England Lee Westwood (5) 42
19 Jul The Open Championship England 1,700,000 United States Mark O'Meara (n/a) 100 Major championship
26 Jul TNT Dutch Open Netherlands 800,000 Australia Stephen Leaney (2) 36
2 Aug Volvo Scandinavian Masters Sweden 800,000 Sweden Jesper Parnevik (4) 34
9 Aug Chemapol Trophy Czech Open Czech Republic – Cancelled –
9 Aug German Open Germany 700,000 Australia Stephen Allan (1) 20
16 Aug PGA Championship United States US$3,000,000 Fiji Vijay Singh (8) 100 Major championship[lower-alpha 4]
23 Aug Smurfit European Open Ireland 1,200,000 Sweden Mathias Grönberg (2) 38
30 Aug BMW International Open Germany 850,000 England Russell Claydon (1) 32
6 Sep Canon European Masters Switzerland 800,000 Germany Sven Strüver (3) 34
13 Sep One 2 One British Masters England 750,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (16) 34
20 Sep Trophée Lancôme France 800,000 Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (4) 44
27 Sep Linde German Masters Germany 1,000,000 Scotland Colin Montgomerie (17) 40
4 Oct Belgacom Open Belgium 400,000 England Lee Westwood (6) 22
25 Oct Oki Pro-Am Spain – Cancelled –
1 Nov Volvo Masters Spain 1,000,000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (4) 42 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
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 United States Mark O'Meara 44 Limited-field event
18 Oct Open Novotel Perrier France 350,000 Sweden Olle Karlsson and
Sweden Jarmo Sandelin		 n/a Team event
8 Nov Subaru Sarazen World Open United States US$2,000,000 United States Dudley Hart 38
22 Nov World Cup of Golf New Zealand US$1,300,000 England David Carter and
England Nick Faldo		 n/a Team event
World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy US$200,000 United States Scott Verplank n/a

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.[9]

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

Awards
AwardWinnerRef.
Golfer of the YearEngland Lee Westwood[10]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearFrance Olivier Edmond[11]

See also

Notes
  1. A further three tournaments were scheduled but were either cancelled or abandoned.
  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 − 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". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  2. "Czech Open cancelled". The Irish Times. 19 March 1998. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  3. "In brief | Golf switch". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 20 March 1998. p. 38. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. 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.
  5. "1998 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  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.
  9. Hopkins, John (2 November 1998). "Montgomerie hits his rivals for six". The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 26. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  10. "Lee's predicting Major joy for Faldo". Lincolnshire Echo. Lincoln, United Kingdom. 15 December 1998. p. 27. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com. This season's European Golfer of the Year...
  11. Britten, Michael (18 November 1998). "Rose attempts to blossom again". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. p. 29. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com. The Frenchman Olivier Edmond has become the 34th recipient of the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award on the European Tour.
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