PGA European Tour

Professional golf began in Europe, specifically in Scotland. The first professionals were clubmakers and greenkeepers who also taught golf to the wealthy men who could afford to play the game (early handmade equipment was expensive) and played "challenge matches" against one another for purses put up by wealthy backers. The first multi-competitor stroke play tournament was The Open Championship, which was introduced in 1860. Over the following decades, the number of golf tournaments offering prize money increased slowly but steadily. Most were in the United Kingdom, but there were also several "national opens" in various countries of Continental Europe.

In 1901, The Professional Golfers' Association was founded to represent the interests of professional golfers throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and it was this body that ultimately created the European Tour. As the tournament circuit grew, in 1937 the Harry Vardon Trophy was created to be awarded to the member of the PGA with the best stroke average in select major stroke play tournaments of the season. This would later become known as the Order of Merit, and at different times has been calculated using stroke average, a points system and money earned. Each year the PGA would determine which tournaments were to be included for the Order of Merit.

By the post-World War II period prize money was becoming more significant, with sponsors being attracted by the introduction of television coverage, and as such it was becoming more feasible for professional golfers to make a living by playing alone. In the United States a formal organised tour, which later became known as the PGA Tour, had been administered by the PGA of America since the 1930s. However even into the 1960s and 1970s, the majority of tournaments in Europe were still organised separately by the host golf club or association, or a commercial promoter.

In 1972 The Professional Golfers' Association created an integrated "European tour" with the inclusion of eight major tournaments in Continental Europe on their Order of Merit schedule. These tournaments were the French Open, which was first included in 1970; the Italian, Spanish, German and Swiss Opens, which were included in 1971; and the Dutch Open, the Madrid Open and the Lancia d'Oro tournament, which were included for the first time.[4] As such the 1972 season is now officially recognised as the first season of the PGA European Tour. For several years, the British PGA and continental circuits continued to run separately, each with their own Order of Merit. Following the example set in the United States, and having been threatened with a breakaway,[5] in 1975 the PGA agreed to amend their constitution giving the tournament side more autonomy with the formation of the Tournament Players Division.[6] In 1977 the Tournament Players Division joined with the Continental Tournament Players Association to become the European Tournament Players Division,[7][8][9] and the following year it was agreed with the European Golf Association that the Continental Order of Merit would be discontinued.[10]

In its early years the season ran for six months from April to October, and was based entirely in Europe, mainly in Great Britain and Ireland. Over the next three decades the tour gradually lengthened and globalised. The first event held outside Europe was the 1982 Tunisian Open.[1] That year, there were 27 tournaments and the season stretched into November for the first time. In 1984, the PGA European Tour became independent of The Professional Golfers' Association. The following year, the tour became "all-exempt" with the end of pre-qualifying for tournaments.

The European Tour has always been sensitive to the risk that its best players will leave to play on the PGA Tour for many reasons. The PGA Tour usually offers higher purses and European players want to increase their chances of glory in the three majors played in the U.S. by playing on more U.S.-style courses to acclimate themselves. In an attempt to counter this phenomenon, the European Tour introduced the "Volvo Bonus Pool" in 1988. This was extra prize money which was distributed at the end of the season to the most successful players of the year—but only golfers who had played in a high number of the European Tour's events could receive a share. This system continued until 1998, after which renewed emphasis was placed on maximising prize money in individual tournaments.

In 1989, the tour visited Asia for the first time for the Dubai Desert Classic. By 1990, there were 38 events on the schedule, including 37 in Europe, and the start of the season had moved up to February. A first visit to East Asia for the Tour occurred at the 1992 Johnnie Walker Classic in Bangkok. This has since proven to be one of the most notable initiatives in the history of the tour, as East Asia is becoming almost its second home. Shortly afterwards the tour also made its debut in the former Soviet Bloc at the 1994 Czech Open, but much less has come of this development as participation in golf in the former Soviet region remains low and sponsors there are unable to compete financially with their Western European rivals for the limited number of slots available on the main tour each summer. However, the second-tier Challenge Tour has visited Central and Eastern Europe somewhat more frequently. In 1995, the European Tour began a policy of co-sanctioning tournaments with other PGA Tours, by endorsing the South African PGA Championship on the Southern African Tour (now the Sunshine Tour). This policy was extended to the PGA Tour of Australasia in 1996, and most extensively to the Asian Tour.

There is no overall governing body in the worldwide sport of golf. While the golf authorities in the various parts of the world cooperate harmoniously overall, there is still some rivalry. The European Tour is very self-conscious about its position relative to the PGA Tour, but the two have also steadily formed a partnership. In 1998, the European Tour added the three U.S. majors — the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open — to its official schedule. The leading Europeans had all been competing in them for many years, but now their prize money counted towards the European Tour Order of Merit, which sometimes made a great deal of difference to the end-of-season rankings. The following year three of the current four individual World Golf Championships, also usually played in America, and also offering far more prize money than most European events, were established and added to the European Tour schedule.

Since the minimum number of events that a player must play to retain membership of the European Tour was long eleven, this meant that international players could become members of the tour by playing just four events on it apart from the majors and the World Golf Championships, which all elite players enter in any case. Players such as Ernie Els and Retief Goosen have taken advantage of this to play the PGA and European Tours concurrently. For the 2009 season, the minimum number of events required for members was increased to twelve;[11] this coincided with the elevation of the HSBC Champions, previously a European Tour event co-sanctioned by three other tours, to World Golf Championships status. The minimum increased to 13 in 2011, but beginning in 2013 team events such as the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup were allowed to count towards the minimum.[12] In 2016 the 13-event minimum was changed to five events, not counting the four majors and four WGCs;[13] while this change did not affect players eligible for all the majors and WGCs, it made it easier for players not eligible for these to retain European Tour membership while playing a full PGA Tour schedule. The minimum will be reduced from five to four in 2018.[14]

The European Tour is considered the second most important tour in men's golf, behind the United States based PGA Tour, but retains significantly higher standing than other leading golf tours around the world. This status is reflected by the minimum world ranking points available in each tours respective tournaments, and prize money available. The total prize money available on the European Tour is approximately half that of the PGA Tour. However this includes the majors and World Golf Championships, which are the most lucrative on the schedule, so the difference for regular tournaments is substantially higher. There is also much more variation in prize funds between tournaments on the European Tour than on the PGA Tour. Even though the prize funds of many European Tour events have increased rapidly since the late 1990s, especially with the introduction of the Race to Dubai and the Rolex Series, on occasion the European Tour has failed to attract as many leading players to its events as in the past, with even some of the top European players staying away.

For many players, the European Tour is seen a stepping-stone to the PGA Tour.[15] During the late twentieth century, the European Tour was traditionally the first overseas move for outstanding players from non-European countries, particularly in the Commonwealth, long a major source for elite golfers, such as Greg Norman, Nick Price and Ernie Els.[16] These players tended to move to the PGA Tour as a second step. When Continental Europe produced its first global golf stars in the 1970s, such as Seve Ballesteros, and especially when Europe began to notch wins over the United States in the Ryder Cup in the mid 1980s, there was widespread optimism about the future standing of the European Tour relative to the PGA Tour. This has ebbed away as leading players continued to base themselves in the United States and several major European countries, such as Germany and Italy, have not produced high-ranked golfers on a regular basis as was formerly anticipated. Nonetheless, the number of European countries which have produced winners on the European Tour and PGA Tour has increased, with notable golfing depth developing in the Scandinavian countries.

However, since the late 1990s more young golfers from around the world are starting their careers directly in the United States, often having attended college as amateurs, usually with golf scholarships, before turning professional. Conversely, some young American players have sought to kick-start their professional careers in Europe, having failed to qualify for either PGA Tour or its development tour. For example, former world number one amateur, Peter Uihlein, announced in December 2011 that he would not return for his final semester at Oklahoma State University and would begin professional play in Europe the following month, both through sponsor's exemptions on the main European Tour and on the developmental Challenge Tour.[17] It is a route that has been successfully followed, most notably by multiple major winner Brooks Koepka.[16]

It has been claimed that finances of the European Tour are heavily dependent on the Ryder Cup. Days before the start of the 2014 Ryder Cup, American golf journalist Bob Harig noted,

In simple terms, the European Tour loses money in non-Ryder Cup years, makes a tidy profit in years the event is played in the United States (where the PGA of America, not the PGA Tour, owns the event and reaps the majority of the income), and then hits the lottery in years the tournament is staged in Europe. Earlier this year, Golfweek reported that the European Tour made more than 14 million pounds in pre-tax profit in 2010, the last time the Ryder Cup was staged in Europe. A year later, when there was no Ryder Cup, it lost more than 2.2 million pounds.[3]

Harig also added that the PGA European Tour extracts significant concessions from Ryder Cup venues. The owners of the 2006 and 2010 venues (respectively Sir Michael Smurfit and Sir Terry Matthews) committed to hosting European Tour events at their venues for more than a decade after winning bidding, and also guaranteed the purses for those tour events.[3]

The European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit" until 2009, when it was replaced by the Race to Dubai. It is calculated in euro, although around half of the events have prize funds which are fixed in other currencies, mainly pounds sterling or U.S. dollars. In these instances, the amounts are converted into euro at the exchange rate for the week that the tournament is played. The winner of the Order of Merit receives the Harry Vardon Trophy, not to be confused with the Vardon Trophy awarded by the PGA of America.

The table below shows the top 10 career money leaders on the European Tour. Due to increases in prize money over the years, it is dominated by current players. The figures are not the players' complete career earnings as most of them have earned millions more on other tours (especially the PGA Tour) or from non-tour events. In addition, elite golfers often earn several times as much from endorsements and golf-related business interests as they do from prize money.

Rank	Player	Country	Prize money (€)
1	Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	38,636,151
2	Lee Westwood	England	38,513,135
3	Sergio García	Spain	31,022,766
4	Henrik Stenson	Sweden	29,385,924
5	Ernie Els	South Africa	28,894,967
6	Justin Rose	England	28,675,283
7	Ian Poulter	England	26,563,743
8	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	25,960,962
9	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	24,493,990
10	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Spain	24,325,399

As of 2020 season (19 January 2020).

There is a list of the top 100 on the European Tour's website here .

The European Tour Golfer of the Year, since 2009 official known as The Race to Dubai European Tour Golfer of the Year is an award handed by a panel comprising members of the Association of Golf Writers and commentators from television and radio.

The European Tour's Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award is named after the English three-time Open Champion Sir Henry Cotton. Originally chosen by Henry Cotton himself, the winner was later selected by a panel comprising the PGA European Tour, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and the Association of Golf Writers. It is currently given to the rookie who places highest in the Race to Dubai.[29] The award was first presented in 1960, and thus predates the founding of the tour in 1972.[30] There have been five years when no award was made.

Year	Golfer of the Year	Country	Rookie of the Year	Country
2019	Jon Rahm	Spain	Robert MacIntyre	Scotland
2018	Francesco Molinari	Italy	Shubhankar Sharma	India
2017	Sergio García	Spain	Jon Rahm	Spain
2016	Henrik Stenson	Sweden	Wang Jeung-hun	South Korea
2015	Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	An Byeong-hun	South Korea
2014	Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	Brooks Koepka	United States
2013	Henrik Stenson	Sweden	Peter Uihlein	United States
2012	Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	Ricardo Santos	Portugal
2011	Luke Donald	England	Tom Lewis	England
2010	Martin Kaymer & Graeme McDowell (shared)	Germany  Northern Ireland	Matteo Manassero	Italy
2009	Lee Westwood	England	Chris Wood	England
2008	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	Pablo Larrazábal	Spain
2007	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	Martin Kaymer	Germany
2006	Paul Casey	England	Marc Warren	Scotland
2005	Michael Campbell	New Zealand	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño	Spain
2004	Vijay Singh	Fiji	Scott Drummond	Scotland
2003	Ernie Els	South Africa	Peter Lawrie	Ireland
2002	Ernie Els	South Africa	Nick Dougherty	England
2001	Retief Goosen	South Africa	Paul Casey	England
2000	Lee Westwood	England	Ian Poulter	England
1999	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	Sergio García	Spain
1998	Lee Westwood	England	Olivier Edmond	France
1997	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	Scott Henderson	Scotland
1996	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	Thomas Bjørn	Denmark
1995	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	Jarmo Sandelin	Sweden
1994	Ernie Els	South Africa	Jonathan Lomas	England
1993	Bernhard Langer	Germany	Gary Orr	Scotland
1992	Nick Faldo	England	Jim Payne	England
1991	Seve Ballesteros	Spain	Per-Ulrik Johansson	Sweden
1990	Nick Faldo	England	Russell Claydon	England
1989	Nick Faldo	England	Paul Broadhurst	England
1988	Seve Ballesteros	Spain	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland
1987	Ian Woosnam	Wales	Peter Baker	England
1986	Seve Ballesteros	Spain	José María Olazábal	Spain
1985	Bernhard Langer	West Germany	Paul Thomas	Wales
1984			Philip Parkin	Wales
1983			Grant Turner	England
1982			Gordon Brand Jnr	Scotland
1981			Jeremy Bennett	England
1980			Paul Hoad	England
1979			Mike Miller	Scotland
1978			Sandy Lyle	Scotland
1977			Nick Faldo	England
1976			Mark James	England
1975			No award
1974			Carl Mason	England
1973			Pip Elson	England
1972			Sam Torrance	Scotland
1971			David Llewellyn	Wales
1970			Stuart Brown	England
1969			Peter Oosterhuis	England
1968			Bernard Gallacher	Scotland
1967			No award
1966			Robin Liddle	Scotland
1965			No award
1964			No award
1963			Tony Jacklin	England
1962			No award
1961			Alex Caygill	England
1960			Tommy Goodwin	England

Multiple winners – Golfer of the Year

Rank	Player	Country	Wins	Last win	First win
1	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	4	1999	1995
T2	Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	3	2015	2012
	Lee Westwood	England	3	2009	1998
	Ernie Els	South Africa	3	2003	1994
	Nick Faldo	England	3	1992	1989
	Seve Ballesteros	Spain	3	1991	1986
T7	Henrik Stenson	Sweden	2	2016	2013
	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	2	2008	2007
	Bernhard Langer	Germany	2	1993	1985

• France: Canal+ Sport
• Germany: Sky Deutschland
• Italy: Sky Italia
• Portugal: Sport TV
• Spain: Movistar Golf
• United Kingdom and Ireland: Sky Sports
• Americas: Golf Channel
• Middle East and North Africa: OSN
• Sub-Saharian Africa: SuperSport
• China: CCTV
• India: Sony TEN
• Scandinavia: Viasat Golf

• List of golfers with most European Tour wins
• Ladies European Tour: the top European women's professional tour.

• Official website