1997 European Tour

1997 European Tour season
Duration	23 January 1997 – 2 November 1997
Number of official events	38
Most wins	Bernhard Langer (4)
Order of Merit	Colin Montgomerie
Golfer of the Year	Colin Montgomerie
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Scott Henderson
	← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 European Tour, titled as the 1997 PGA European Tour,^[1] was the 26th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 1997

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the South African Open, which replaced the FNB Players Championship, and the loss of the Catalan Open, the Austrian Open and the Scottish Open, which was effectively superseded by the Loch Lomond World Invitational.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.^[2]^[3]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner^[a]	OWGR points	Other tours^[b]	Notes
26 Jan	Johnnie Walker Classic	Australia	700,000	Ernie Els (4)	44	ANZ
2 Feb	Heineken Classic	Australia	A$1,100,000	Miguel Ángel Martín (2)	40	ANZ
9 Feb	South African Open	South Africa	500,000	Vijay Singh (7)	34	AFR	New to European Tour
16 Feb	Dimension Data Pro-Am	South Africa	400,000	Nick Price (6)	26	AFR	Pro-Am
23 Feb	Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship	South Africa	300,000	Nick Price (7)	24	AFR
2 Mar	Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$1,200,000	Richard Green (1)	40
9 Mar	Moroccan Open	Morocco	350,000	Clinton Whitelaw (1)	20
16 Mar	Portuguese Open	Portugal	350,000	Michael Jonzon (1)	20
23 Mar	Turespaña Masters Open de Canarias	Spain	375,000	José María Olazábal (17)	20
30 Mar	Madeira Island Open	Portugal	300,000	Peter Mitchell (2)	20
13 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$2,700,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	100		Major championship^[c]
20 Apr	Europe 1 Cannes Open	France	300,000	Stuart Cage (1)	20
27 Apr	Peugeot Open de España	Spain	500,000	Mark James (18)	38
4 May	Conte of Florence Italian Open	Italy	450,000	Bernhard Langer (36)	28
11 May	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	700,000	Bernhard Langer (37)	36
18 May	Alamo English Open	England	650,000	Per-Ulrik Johansson (4)	34
26 May	Volvo PGA Championship	England	1,100,000	Ian Woosnam (29)	64		Flagship event
1 Jun	Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe	Germany	750,000	Ross McFarlane (1)	26
8 Jun	Compaq European Grand Prix	England	650,000	Colin Montgomerie (13)	26
15 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$2,600,000	Ernie Els (5)	100		Major championship^[c]
22 Jun	Volvo German Open	Germany	700,000	Ignacio Garrido (1)	24
29 Jun	Peugeot Open de France	France	600,000	Retief Goosen (2)	34
6 Jul	Murphy's Irish Open	Ireland	675,000	Colin Montgomerie (14)	38
12 Jul	Gulfstream Loch Lomond World Invitational	Scotland	800,000	Tom Lehman (n/a)	50
20 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	1,600,000	Justin Leonard (n/a)	100		Major championship
27 Jul	Sun Microsystems Dutch Open	Netherlands	700,000	Sven Strüver (2)	20
3 Aug	Volvo Scandinavian Masters	Sweden	750,000	Joakim Haeggman (2)	34
10 Aug	Chemapol Trophy Czech Open	Czech Republic	800,000	Bernhard Langer (38)	24
17 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$2,600,000	Davis Love III (n/a)	100		Major championship^[c]
24 Aug	Smurfit European Open	Ireland	850,000	Per-Ulrik Johansson (5)	32
31 Aug	BMW International Open	Germany	750,000	Robert Karlsson (2)	36
7 Sep	Canon European Masters	Switzerland	800,000	Costantino Rocca (4)	32
14 Sep	Trophée Lancôme	France	700,000	Mark O'Meara (n/a)	42
21 Sep	One 2 One British Masters	England	750,000	Greg Turner (4)	30
5 Oct	Linde German Masters	Germany	750,000	Bernhard Langer (39)	38
26 Oct	Oki Pro-Am	Spain	450,000	Paul McGinley (2)	20
2 Nov	Volvo Masters	Spain	1,000,000	Lee Westwood (2)	28		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
28 Sep	Ryder Cup	Spain	n/a	Team Europe	n/a	Team event
12 Oct	Toyota World Match Play Championship	England	650,000	Vijay Singh	42	Limited-field event
12 Oct	Open Novotel Perrier	France	n/a	Anders Forsbrand and Michael Jonzon	n/a	Team event
19 Oct	Dunhill Cup	Scotland	1,000,000	Team South Africa	n/a	Team event
9 Nov	Subaru Sarazen World Open	United States	US$2,000,000	Mark Calcavecchia	40
23 Nov	World Cup of Golf	United States	US$1,300,000	Pádraig Harrington and Paul McGinley	n/a	Team event
23 Nov	World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy	United States	US$200,000	Colin Montgomerie	n/a
4 Jan	Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf	United States	US$3,650,000	Colin Montgomerie	58	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.^[4]^[5]

Position	Player	Prize money (£)
1	Colin Montgomerie	798,947
2	Bernhard Langer	692,398
3	Lee Westwood	588,718
4	Darren Clarke	537,409
5	Ian Woosnam	503,562
6	Ignacio Garrido	411,479
7	Retief Goosen	394,597
8	Pádraig Harrington	388,982
9	José María Olazábal	385,648
10	Robert Karlsson	364,542

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Colin Montgomerie	^[6]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Scott Henderson	^[7]

Notes

^ 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.
^ AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.
^ ^a ^b ^c Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References

^ "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
^ "1997 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
^ Hopkins, John (1 November 1996). "Schofield accepts the need for Tour to rebuild confidence". The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 48. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
^ "European Order of Merit". The Times. London, United Kingdom. 5 November 1997. p. 50. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
^ "The full Monty...". Cambridge Evening News. Cambridge, United Kingdom. 3 November 1997. p. 27. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Full year for Monty". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 30 November 1997. p. 100 (105 in paper). Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Ryder Cup hero Colin Montgomerie has beaten off competition from South Africa's Ernie Els to win the European Tour's Golfer of the Year award for the third year in a row.
^ "Henderson rewarded after fine rookie season". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 10 December 1997. p. 19. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

Official website

[totals-4] 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.

[5] AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.

[unofficial-6] Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

[history-1] "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.

[2] "1997 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 18 October 2023.

[3] Hopkins, John (1 November 1996). "Schofield accepts the need for Tour to rebuild confidence". The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 48. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.

[7] "European Order of Merit". The Times. London, United Kingdom. 5 November 1997. p. 50. Retrieved 2 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.

[8] "The full Monty...". Cambridge Evening News. Cambridge, United Kingdom. 3 November 1997. p. 27. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

[9] "Full year for Monty". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 30 November 1997. p. 100 (105 in paper). Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Ryder Cup hero Colin Montgomerie has beaten off competition from South Africa's Ernie Els to win the European Tour's Golfer of the Year award for the third year in a row.

[10] "Henderson rewarded after fine rookie season". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 10 December 1997. p. 19. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

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