2008 European Tour

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2008 European Tour season
Duration8 November 2007 (2007-11-08) – 30 November 2008 (2008-11-30)
Number of official events52
Most wins2 – Darren Clarke, Richard Finch, Pádraig Harrington, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Robert Karlsson, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell*
* Tiger Woods won 3 events, but was not a European Tour member
Order of MeritRobert Karlsson
Golfer of the YearPádraig Harrington
Players' Player of the YearPádraig Harrington
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearPablo Larrazábal
← 2007
2009 →

The 2008 European Tour was the 37th golf season since the European Tour officially began in 1972.

The Order of Merit was won by Robert Karlsson, the first Swedish golfer to do so. The Golfer of the Year award was given to Pádraig Harrington, who won two major championships during the season and finished second in the Order of Merit. The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year was Pablo Larrazábal from Spain.

Major tournaments[]

Main article: 2008 in golf

For a summary of the major tournaments and events of 2008, including the major championships and the World Golf Championships, see 2008 in golf.

Schedule[]

The 2008 season began in November 2007 and consisted of 50 official money events, a drop of two from the previous year. This included seven major championships and World Golf Championships, which are also sanctioned by the PGA Tour. 27 events took place in Europe, 11 in Asia, six in the United States, four in South Africa, one in Australia and one in New Zealand.

There were four new tournaments, the Indian Masters, the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea,[1] and in Spain the Madrid Masters and the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar. Lost from the tour schedule were the Singapore Masters, the TCL Classic, the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe, the Madrid Open and the Mallorca Classic. the World Match Play Championship was originally scheduled, but was not held; it returned in 2009 with a new sponsor and venue.[2]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[a] OWGR
points[3] 		Notes
8–11 Nov HSBC Champions China United States Phil Mickelson (n/a) 52 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, and Sunshine Tour
15–18 Nov UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (14) 36 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
22–25 Nov MasterCard Masters Australia Australia Aaron Baddeley (n/a) 24 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
29 Nov – 2 Dec Michael Hill New Zealand Open New Zealand England Richard Finch (1) 20 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
6–9 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship South Africa England John Bickerton (3) 22 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
13–16 Dec South African Airways Open South Africa South Africa James Kingston (1) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
10–13 Jan Joburg Open South Africa South Africa Richard Sterne (3) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
17–20 Jan Abu Dhabi Golf Championship United Arab Emirates Germany Martin Kaymer (1) 44
24–27 Jan Commercialbank Qatar Masters Qatar Australia Adam Scott (6) 46
31 Jan – 3 Feb Dubai Desert Classic United Arab Emirates United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 50
7–10 Feb Emaar-MGF Indian Masters India India Shiv Chawrasia (1) 26 New tournament; co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
14–17 Feb Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open Indonesia Chile Felipe Aguilar (1) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
20–24 Feb WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship United States United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championships
28 Feb – 2 Mar Johnnie Walker Classic India New Zealand Mark Brown (1) 38 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian Tour
6–9 Mar Maybank Malaysian Open Malaysia India Arjun Atwal (3) 24 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
13–16 Mar Ballantine's Championship South Korea Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell (3) 28 New tournament; co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
20–23 Mar WGC-CA Championship United States Australia Geoff Ogilvy (n/a) 76 World Golf Championships
20–23 Mar Madeira Island Open Portugal Scotland Alastair Forsyth (2) 24 Alternate event
27–30 Mar MAPFRE Open de Andalucia Spain France Thomas Levet (4) 24
3–6 Apr Estoril Open de Portugal Portugal France Grégory Bourdy (2) 24
10–13 Apr Masters Tournament United States South Africa Trevor Immelman (4) 100 Major championship
17–20 Apr Volvo China Open China Republic of Ireland Damien McGrane (1) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
24–27 Apr BMW Asian Open China Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (11) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
1–4 May Open de España Spain Republic of Ireland Peter Lawrie (1) 24
8–11 May Italian Open Italy South Africa Hennie Otto (1) 24
15–18 May Irish Open Ireland England Richard Finch (2) 28
22–25 May BMW PGA Championship England Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez (15) 64 Flagship event
29 May – 1 Jun Celtic Manor Wales Open Wales Australia Scott Strange (1) 36
5–8 Jun Bank Austria GolfOpen Austria India Jeev Milkha Singh (3) 24
12–15 Jun U.S. Open United States United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 100 Major championship
12–15 Jun Saint-Omer Open France England David Dixon (1) 18 Alternate event; dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour
19–22 Jun BMW International Open Germany Germany Martin Kaymer (2) 30
26–29 Jun Open de France France Spain Pablo Larrazábal (1) 38
3–6 Jul European Open England England Ross Fisher (2) 40
10–13 Jul Barclays Scottish Open Scotland Northern Ireland Graeme McDowell (4) 50
17–20 Jul The Open Championship England Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (13) 100 Major championship
24–27 Jul Inteco Russian Open Russia Sweden Mikael Lundberg (2) 24
31 Jul – 3 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational United States Fiji Vijay Singh (13) 74 World Golf Championships
7–10 Aug PGA Championship United States Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (14) 100 Major championship
14–17 Aug SAS Masters Sweden Sweden Peter Hanson (2) 24
21–24 Aug KLM Open Netherlands Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (12) 30
28–31 Aug Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles Scotland France Grégory Havret (3) 32
4–7 Sep Omega European Masters Switzerland France Jean-François Lucquin (1) 24
11–14 Sep Mercedes-Benz Championship Germany Sweden Robert Karlsson (8) 34
19–21 Sep Ryder Cup United States  United States n/a Approved special event; team event
25–28 Sep Quinn Insurance British Masters England Spain Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (4) 30
2–5 Oct Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Scotland Sweden Robert Karlsson (9) 50
9–12 Oct World Match Play Championship England Cancelled
9–12 Oct Madrid Masters Spain South Africa Charl Schwartzel (3) 24 New tournament
16–19 Oct Portugal Masters Portugal Spain Álvaro Quirós (2) 38
23–26 Oct Castelló Masters Costa Azahar Spain Spain Sergio García (7) 38 New tournament
30 Oct – 2 Nov Volvo Masters Spain Denmark Søren Kjeldsen (2) 50
27–30 Nov Omega Mission Hills World Cup China Sweden Sweden n/a Approved special event; team event
  1. ^ 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.

Location of tournaments[]

Order of Merit[]

In 2008, 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 2008 were:

Rank Player Country Events Prize money (€)
1 Robert Karlsson  Sweden 23 2,732,748
2 Pádraig Harrington  Ireland 14 2,459,109
3 Lee Westwood  England 21 2,424,642
4 Miguel Ángel Jiménez  Spain 26 2,066,596
5 Graeme McDowell  Northern Ireland 28 1,859,346
6 Ross Fisher  England 27 1,836,530
7 Henrik Stenson  Sweden 19 1,798,617
8 Martin Kaymer  Germany 25 1,794,500
9 Sergio García  Spain 13 1,591,917
10 Søren Kjeldsen  Denmark 29 1,440,979

Tiger Woods earned more money in European Tour events in 2008 (€2,759,558 in five events) than any other golfer, but was not a member of the European Tour so was not eligible for the Order of Merit.[4]

Awards[]

Award Winner Country
European Tour Golfer of the Year Pádraig Harrington  Ireland
European Tour Players' Player of the Year Pádraig Harrington  Ireland
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Pablo Larrazábal  Spain

Golfer of the Month[]

The winners of the European Tour Golfer of the Month Award were as follows:

Month Player Country
January Martin Kaymer  Germany
February Mark Brown  New Zealand
March Graeme McDowell  Northern Ireland
April Trevor Immelman  South Africa
May Sergio García  Spain
June Pablo Larrazábal  Spain
July Pádraig Harrington  Ireland
August Pádraig Harrington  Ireland
September Robert Karlsson  Sweden
October Robert Karlsson  Sweden
November Robert Karlsson  Sweden

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Euro Tour to hit India and Korea". BBC Sport. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  2. ^ Mair, Lewine (23 June 2008). "Matchplay's 44-year run at Wentworth ends". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Events | European Tour | 2008". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  4. ^ Tiger Woods – Career record

External links[]

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