2007 European Tour

The 2007 European Tour was the 36th golf season since the European Tour officially began in 1972. The 2007 season consisted of 52 official money events, breaking the record of the previous year. This included seven major championships and World Golf Championships, which are also sanctioned by the PGA Tour. 29 events took place in Europe, 12 in Asia, six in the United States, three in South Africa, one in Australia and one in New Zealand. There were three new tournaments, the Joburg Open in South Africa, the Open de Andalucia in Spain and the Portugal Masters. The Mercedes-Benz Championship returned after a year-off in 2006. The PGA Tour's introduction of the FedEx Cup prompted the European Tour to extend the season into November and several tournaments moved away from their traditional dates.

The Order of Merit race came down to the closing holes of the final tournament, and was won by Justin Rose for the first time despite the Englishman playing the majority of his golf in America. Rose overtook Ernie Els and held off the challenge of the defending Order of Merit champion Pádraig Harrington. The Player of the Year award was given to Harrington after his victories at The Open Championship and the Irish Open. The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year was Martin Kaymer of Germany.

Main tournaments

For details of what happened in the main tournaments of 2007, including the major championships and the World Golf Championships, see 2007 in golf.

Table of results

The table below shows the 2007 schedule. There are 52 official money events, of which the first six events take place in late 2006. The season runs for 52 weeks, with a three-week break over Christmas and the New Year, and one week when the only event is an unofficial money team tournament. There are four weeks when two official money events are played.

The numbers in brackets after the winners' names show the number of career wins they had on the European Tour up to and including that event. This is only shown for members of the European Tour. To give such a number for non-members would misrepresent the amount of time some international golfers spend on the European Tour; as the Tour co-sanctions the major championships and World Golf Championships events, some top players accumulate a significant number of wins in European Tour sanctioned events without really playing on it. For example, after his win in the 2007 WGC-CA Championship, Tiger Woods has won more than thirty events sanctioned by the European Tour, but has never played a sufficient number of European Tour-sanctioned events to qualify for membership.

Dates Tournament Host country Winner OWGR
points
Notes
9-12 Nov HSBC Champions Tournament China South Korea Yang Yong-eun (1) 52 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour,
PGA Tour of Australasia, and Sunshine Tour
16-19 Nov UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong Spain José Manuel Lara (1) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
23-26 Nov MasterCard Masters Australia England Justin Rose (3) 30 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
30 Nov-3 Dec Blue Chip New Zealand Open New Zealand Australia Nathan Green (1) 20 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
7-10 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship South Africa Spain Álvaro Quirós (1) 18 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
14-17 Dec South African Airways Open South Africa South Africa Ernie Els (22) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
11-14 Jan Joburg Open South Africa Argentina Ariel Cañete (1) 20 New tournament
Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
18-21 Jan Abu Dhabi Golf Championship United Arab Emirates England Paul Casey (8) 44
25-28 Jan The Commercialbank Qatar Masters Qatar South Africa Retief Goosen (14) 48 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
1-4 Feb Dubai Desert Classic United Arab Emirates Sweden Henrik Stenson (5) 50
8-11 Feb Maybank Malaysian Open Malaysia Sweden Peter Hedblom (2) 26 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
15-18 Feb Indonesia Open Indonesia Finland Mikko Ilonen (1) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
22-25 Feb WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship United States Sweden Henrik Stenson (6) 76 World Golf Championships
1-4 Mar Johnnie Walker Classic Thailand South Africa Anton Haig (1) 40 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
and PGA Tour of Australasia
8-11 Mar Singapore Masters Singapore China Liang Wen-Chong (1) 30 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
15-18 Mar TCL Classic China Thailand Chapchai Nirat (1) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
22-25 Mar WGC-CA Championship United States United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championships
22-25 Mar Madeira Island Open Portugal Argentina Daniel Vancsik (1) 24
29 Mar - 1 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal Spain Pablo Martín (1) 24 First-ever European Tour win by an amateur
5-8 Apr Masters Tournament United States United States Zach Johnson (n/a) 100 Major championship
12-15 Apr Volvo China Open China Austria Markus Brier (2) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
19-22 Apr BMW Asian Open China France Raphaël Jacquelin (2) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
26-29 Apr Open de España Spain South Africa Charl Schwartzel (2) 24
3-6 May Telecom Italia Open Italy Spain Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (3) 24
10-13 May Valle Romano Open de Andalucia Spain England Lee Westwood (17) 24 New tournament
17-20 May Irish Open Ireland Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (11) 28
24-27 May BMW PGA Championship England Denmark Anders Hansen (2) 64 The European Tour's flagship event
31 May - 3 Jun Celtic Manor Wales Open Wales South Africa Richard Sterne (2) 26
7-10 Jun BA-CA Golf Open Austria Australia Richard Green (2) 24
14-17 Jun U.S. Open United States Argentina Ángel Cabrera (4) 100 Major championship
14-17 Jun Open de Saint-Omer France Spain Carl Suneson (1) 18 Dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour
21-24 Jun BMW International Open Germany Sweden Niclas Fasth (6) 34
28 Jun - 1 Jul Open de France France England Graeme Storm (1) 30
5-8 Jul Smurfit European Open Ireland Scotland Colin Montgomerie (31) 32
12-15 Jul Barclays Scottish Open Scotland France Grégory Havret (2) 50
19-22 Jul The Open Championship Scotland Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington (12) 100 Major championship
26-29 Jul Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe Germany Argentina Andrés Romero (1) 40
2-5 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational United States United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championships
2-5 Aug Russian Open Russia Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson (6) 24
9-12 Aug PGA Championship United States United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 100 Major championship
16-19 Aug Scandinavian Masters Sweden Finland Mikko Ilonen (2) 24
23-26 Aug KLM Open Netherlands England Ross Fisher (1) 24
30 Aug - 2 Sep Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles Scotland Scotland Marc Warren (2) 24
6-9 Sep Omega European Masters Switzerland Australia Brett Rumford (3) 30
13-16 Sep Mercedes-Benz Championship Germany Denmark Søren Hansen (2) 40 Returns after a one-year hiatus
20-23 Sep Quinn Direct British Masters England England Lee Westwood (18) 32
27-30 Sep Seve Trophy Ireland United Kingdom Great Britain & Republic of Ireland Ireland n/a Team event - Continental Europe v. Great Britain & Ireland.
4-7 Oct Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Scotland England Nick Dougherty (2) 48 Celebrity pro-am
11-14 Oct HSBC World Match Play Championship England South Africa Ernie Els (23) 40 16-man match play event; highest first prize in golf
11-14 Oct Open de Madrid Spain Denmark Mads Vibe-Hastrup (1) 24
18-21 Oct Portugal Masters Portugal England Steve Webster (2) 34 New tournament
25-28 Oct Mallorca Classic Spain France Grégory Bourdy (1) 24
1-4 Nov Volvo Masters Spain England Justin Rose (4) 46 The Tour Championship

Order of Merit

In 2007, 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 2007 were:

Position Player Country Prize money ()
1 Justin Rose  England 2,944,945
2 Ernie Els  South Africa 2,496,237
3 Pádraig Harrington  Ireland 2,463,742
4 Henrik Stenson  Sweden 2,014,841
5 Niclas Fasth  Sweden 1,919,339
6 Ángel Cabrera  Argentina 1,753,024
7 Andrés Romero  Argentina 1,741,707
8 Søren Hansen  Denmark 1,692,054
9 Retief Goosen  South Africa 1,478,245
10 Lee Westwood  England 1,420,327

Note that Tiger Woods earned more money in European Tour events in 2007 than any other golfer, but was not a member of the European Tour so was not eligible for the Order of Merit.[1]

See also

References

External links

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