2006 European Tour

2006 European Tour season
Duration	10 November 2005 – 10 December 2006
Number of official events	47
Most wins	3 – Paul Casey, Johan Edfors; Tiger Woods won 5 events, but was not a European Tour member
Order of Merit	Pádraig Harrington
Golfer of the Year	Paul Casey
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the year	Marc Warren
	← 2005 2007 →

The 2006 European Tour was the 35th golf season since the European Tour officially began in 1972.

The Order of Merit race came down to the last few shots of the final tournament, and was won by Pádraig Harrington for the first time. He was the first Irishman to top the Order of Merit since the official beginning of the tour. The Player of the Year award was given to Order of Merit runner up Paul Casey of England and the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year was Marc Warren of Scotland.

Major tournaments[]

For a summary of the major tournaments and events of 2006, including the major championships and the World Golf Championships, see 2006 in golf.

Schedule[]

The 2006 season began with five events in late 2005 and consisted of 47 official money events,^[1] equalling the record set the previous year. This included the four major championships and three World Golf Championships, which are also sanctioned by the PGA Tour. 27 events took place in Europe, 12 in Asia, five in the United States, two in South Africa and one in Australia. Total prize money exceeded €117 million, including nearly €40 million in the major championships and WGC events.

Changes from the 2005 season included four new tournaments, the HSBC Champions in China, the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, the Austrian Open, which returned to the European Tour schedule for the first time since 1996, and the Royal Trophy, a team event contested between teams from Europe and Asia.^[2] In addition, there were two editions of the Volvo China Open and the Russian Open became a full European Tour event having previously been a dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour. The German Masters, the Heineken Classic, and the Abama Open de Canarias were lost from the tour schedule, as was the New Zealand Open which was held later in the year as part of the 2007 season.

Dates	Tournament	Host country	Winner^[a]	OWGR points^[3]	Notes
10–13 Nov	HSBC Champions	China	David Howell (3)	48	New tournament; Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia, and the Sunshine Tour
24–27 Nov	Volvo China Open^[b]	China	Paul Casey (5)	18	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
1–4 Dec	UBS Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	Colin Montgomerie (30)	28	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
8–11 Dec	Dunhill Championship	South Africa	Ernie Els (22)	20	Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
15–18 Dec	South African Airways Open	South Africa	Retief Goosen (13)	32	Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
7–8 Jan	Royal Trophy	Thailand	Europe	n/a	New tournament; approved special event; team event
19–22 Jan	Abu Dhabi Golf Championship	United Arab Emirates	Chris DiMarco (n/a)	42	New tournament
26–29 Jan	Qatar Masters	Qatar	Henrik Stenson (3)	44	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
2–5 Feb	Dubai Desert Classic	United Arab Emirates	Tiger Woods (n/a)	48
9–12 Feb	Johnnie Walker Classic	Australia	Kevin Stadler (n/a)	44	Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian Tour
16–19 Feb	Maybank Malaysian Open	Malaysia	Charlie Wi (1)	20	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
22–26 Feb	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	United States	Geoff Ogilvy (1)	76	World Golf Championships
2–5 Mar	Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open	Indonesia	Simon Dyson (1)	20	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
9–12 Mar	Singapore Masters	Singapore	Mardan Mamat (1)	20	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
16–19 Mar	TCL Classic	China	Johan Edfors (1)	24	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
23–26 Mar	Madeira Island Open	Portugal	Jean van de Velde (2)	24
30 Mar – 2 Apr	Portuguese Open	Portugal	Paul Broadhurst (6)	24
6–9 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	Phil Mickelson (n/a)	100	Major championship
13–16 Apr	Volvo China Open^[b]	China	Jeev Milkha Singh (1)	24	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
20–23 Apr	BMW Asian Open	China	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (2)	30	Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
27–30 Apr	Andalucía Open de España Valle Romano	Spain	Niclas Fasth (4)	24
4–7 May	Telecom Italia Open	Italy	Francesco Molinari (1)	24
11–14 May	British Masters	England	Johan Edfors (2)	42
18–21 May	Nissan Irish Open	Ireland	Thomas Bjørn (9)	38
25–28 May	BMW Championship	England	David Howell (4)	64	The Flagship event
1–4 Jun	Celtic Manor Wales Open	Wales	Robert Karlsson (6)	28
8–11 Jun	BA-CA Golf Open	Austria	Markus Brier (1)	24	Returning tournament
15–18 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	Geoff Ogilvy (2)	100	Major championship
15–18 Jun	Aa St Omer Open	France	César Monasterio (1)	18	Alternate event; dual ranking event with the Challenge Tour
22–25 Jun	Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles	Scotland	Paul Casey (6)	24
29 Jun – 2 Jul	Open de France	France	John Bickerton (2)	40
6–9 Jul	Smurfit European Open	Ireland	Stephen Dodd (3)	46
13–16 Jul	Barclays Scottish Open	Scotland	Johan Edfors (3)	50
20–23 Jul	The Open Championship	England	Tiger Woods (n/a)	100	Major championship
27–30 Jul	Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe	Germany	Robert Karlsson (7)	50
3–6 Aug	EnterCard Scandinavian Masters	Sweden	Marc Warren (1)	24
10–13 Aug	KLM Open	Netherlands	Simon Dyson (2)	24
17–20 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	Tiger Woods (n/a)	100	Major championship
17–20 Aug	Imperial Collection Russian Open	Russia	Alejandro Cañizares (1)	24	Alternate event
24–27 Aug	WGC-Bridgestone Invitational	United States	Tiger Woods (n/a)	76	World Golf Championships
31 Aug – 3 Sep	BMW International Open	Germany	Henrik Stenson (4)	44
7–10 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	Bradley Dredge (2)	24
14–17 Sep	HSBC World Match Play Championship	England	Paul Casey (7)	48
14–17 Sep	Open de Madrid	Spain	Ian Poulter (7)	24
22–24 Sep	Ryder Cup	Ireland	Europe	n/a	Approved special event; team event
28 Sep – 1 Oct	WGC-American Express Championship	England	Tiger Woods (n/a)	70	World Golf Championships
5–8 Oct	Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	Pádraig Harrington (10)	50
19–22 Oct	Mallorca Classic	Spain	Niclas Fasth (5)	28
26–29 Oct	Volvo Masters	Spain	Jeev Milkha Singh (2)	48
7–10 Dec	WGC-World Cup	Barbados	Germany	n/a	World Golf Championships; approved special event; team event

^ 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 and have been retrospectively recognised as official tour wins. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.
^ ^a ^b Due to the tournament changing dates from November to March, there were two editions of the Volvo China Open on the 2006 European Tour schedule.

Order of Merit[]

In 2006, the European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit". It was calculated in euro, although around half of the events had prize funds which were fixed in other currencies, mostly either British pounds or U.S. dollars. In these instances the amounts were converted into euro at the exchange rate for the week that the tournament was played. The top 10 golfers in 2006 were:

Position	Player	Country	Prize money (€)
1.	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	2,489,337
2.	Paul Casey	England	2,454,084
3.	David Howell	England	2,321,116
4.	Robert Karlsson	Sweden	2,044,936
5.	Ernie Els	South Africa	1,716,208
6.	Henrik Stenson	Sweden	1,709,359
7.	Luke Donald	England	1,658,060
8.	Ian Poulter	England	1,589,070
9.	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	1,534,748
10.	Johan Edfors	Sweden	1,505,583

Awards[]

Award	Winner	Country
European Tour Golfer of the Year	Paul Casey	England
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Marc Warren	Scotland

References[]

^ "European Tour 2006". BBC Sport. 2 October 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
^ "New events for 2006 European Tour". BBC Sport. 14 November 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
^ "Events | European Tour | 2006". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

External links[]

[totals-3] 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 and have been retrospectively recognised as official tour wins. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.

[chinaopen-5] Due to the tournament changing dates from November to March, there were two editions of the Volvo China Open on the 2006 European Tour schedule.

[1] "European Tour 2006". BBC Sport. 2 October 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

[2] "New events for 2006 European Tour". BBC Sport. 14 November 2005. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

[4] "Events | European Tour | 2006". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

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