Duration | 25 January 1996 (1996-01-25) – 27 October 1996 (1996-10-27) |
---|---|
Number of official events | 38[a] |
Most wins | ![]() |
Order of Merit | ![]() |
Golfer of the Year | ![]() |
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | ![]() |
← 1995 1997 → |
The 1996 European Tour, titled as the 1996 PGA European Tour,[1] was the 25th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
The 1996 season saw co-sanctioning arrangements expand, with the PGA Tour of Australasia's Heineken Classic joining three Southern Africa Tour events on the schedule. The season was ultimately made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".[2][3][4]
Other changes from the previous season included the addition of the Heineken Classic, the Dimension Data Pro-Am and the Loch Lomond World Invitational; and the loss of the Turespaña Open De Canaria and the Open de Baleares. Soon after the schedule was announced, a third Southern Africa Tour event was added, the FNB Players Championship.[5]
In January, the Jersey Open was moved onto the European Senior Tour schedule and the Open Mediterrania was replaced by the Catalan Open.[6] In February, a new tournament in Spain, the Oki Pro-Am, was added opposite the Dunhill Cup.[7] In March, the Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge was added to the schedule, taking the dates vacated by the Jersey Open, opposite the U.S. Open.[8]
The following table lists official events during the 1996 season.[9]
Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (£) |
Winner[b] | OWGR points |
Other tours[c] |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
28 Jan | Johnnie Walker Classic | Singapore | 600,000 | ![]() |
42 | ANZ | |
4 Feb | Heineken Classic | Australia | A$800,000 | ![]() |
34 | ANZ | New to European Tour |
11 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | South Africa | 400,000 | ![]() |
30 | AFR | New Pro-Am tournament |
18 Feb | Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship | South Africa | 300,000 | ![]() |
22 | AFR | |
25 Feb | FNB Players Championship | South Africa | 400,000 | ![]() |
28 | AFR | New to European Tour |
Turespaña Open Mediterrania | Spain | – | Cancelled | – | |||
3 Mar | Catalan Open | Spain | 300,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
10 Mar | Moroccan Open | Morocco | 350,000 | ![]() |
26 | ||
17 Mar | Dubai Desert Classic | UAE | US$1,000,000 | ![]() |
36 | ||
24 Mar | Portuguese Open | Portugal | 350,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
31 Mar | Madeira Island Open | Portugal | 300,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
14 Apr | Masters Tournament | United States | US$2,500,000 | ![]() |
100 | Major championship[d] | |
21 Apr | Air France Cannes Open | France | 400,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
28 Apr | Turespaña Masters | Spain | 500,000 | ![]() |
26 | ||
5 May | Conte of Florence Italian Open | Italy | 500,000 | ![]() |
24 | ||
12 May | Peugeot Spanish Open | Spain | 550,000 | ![]() |
32 | ||
19 May | Benson & Hedges International Open | England | 700,000 | ![]() |
44 | ||
27 May | Volvo PGA Championship | England | 1,000,000 | ![]() |
64 | Flagship event | |
2 Jun | Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe | Germany | 750,000 | ![]() |
38 | ||
9 Jun | Alamo English Open | England | 650,000 | ![]() |
30 | ||
Jersey Open | Jersey | – | Cancelled | – | |||
16 Jun | Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge | England | 300,000 | ![]() |
20 | New tournament | |
16 Jun | U.S. Open | United States | US$2,400,000 | ![]() |
100 | Major championship[d] | |
23 Jun | BMW International Open | Germany | 500,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
30 Jun | Peugeot Open de France | France | 600,000 | ![]() |
40 | ||
7 Jul | Murphy's Irish Open | Ireland | 750,000 | ![]() |
40 | ||
13 Jul | Scottish Open | Scotland | 480,000 | ![]() |
42 | ||
21 Jul | The Open Championship | England | 1,500,000 | ![]() |
100 | Major championship | |
28 Jul | Sun Microsystems Dutch Open | Netherlands | 650,000 | ![]() |
28 | ||
4 Aug | Volvo Scandinavian Masters | Sweden | 700,000 | ![]() |
32 | ||
11 Aug | Hohe Brücke Open | Austria | 250,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
11 Aug | PGA Championship | United States | US$2,400,000 | ![]() |
100 | Major championship[d] | |
18 Aug | Chemapol Trophy Czech Open | Czech Republic | 750,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
25 Aug | Volvo German Open | Germany | 700,000 | ![]() |
20 | ||
31 Aug | One 2 One British Masters | England | 700,000 | ![]() |
36 | ||
8 Sep | Canon European Masters | Switzerland | 750,000 | ![]() |
32 | ||
15 Sep | Trophée Lancôme | France | 650,000 | ![]() |
38 | ||
22 Sep | Loch Lomond World Invitational | Scotland | 750,000 | ![]() |
40 | ||
29 Sep | Smurfit European Open | Ireland | 750,000 | ![]() |
38 | ||
6 Oct | Linde German Masters | Germany | 650,000 | ![]() |
40 | ||
13 Oct | Oki Pro-Am | Spain | 450,000 | ![]() |
20 | New tournament | |
27 Oct | Volvo Masters | Spain | 900,000 | ![]() |
40 | Tour Championship |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 Oct | Dunhill Cup | Scotland | 1,000,000 | ![]() |
n/a | Team event |
20 Oct | Toyota World Match Play Championship | England | 650,000 | ![]() |
42 | Limited-field event |
20 Oct | Open Novotel Perrier | France | n/a | ![]() ![]() |
n/a | Team event |
3 Nov | Subaru Sarazen World Open | United States | US$1,900,000 | ![]() |
40 | |
24 Nov | World Cup of Golf | South Africa | US$1,300,000 | ![]() ![]() |
n/a | Team event |
World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy | US$200,000 | ![]() |
n/a | |||
Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship | Jamaica | – | Cancelled | – | ||
5 Jan | Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf | United States | US$3,650,000 | ![]() |
58 | Limited-field event |
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.[10][11]
Position | Player | Prize money (£) |
---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
875,146 |
2 | ![]() |
650,423 |
3 | ![]() |
532,143 |
4 | ![]() |
482,585 |
5 | ![]() |
463,847 |
6 | ![]() |
428,693 |
7 | ![]() |
345,936 |
8 | ![]() |
329,795 |
9 | ![]() |
300,364 |
10 | ![]() |
292,023 |
Award | Winner | Ref. |
---|---|---|
Golfer of the Year | ![]() |
[12] |
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | ![]() |
[13] |
While the European Tour's Johnnie Walker Golf of the Year award was presented to his manager Guy Kinnings...