The 1989 European Tour, titled as the 1989 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 18th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
| Duration | 23 February 1989 – 29 October 1989 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 33[a] |
| Most wins |  Nick Faldo (4) |
| Order of Merit |  Ronan Rafferty |
| Golfer of the Year | Nick Faldo |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Paul Broadhurst |
← 1988 1990 → | |
It was the second season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Volvo, that was announced in May 1987.[1]
Changes for 1989 edit
The season was made up of 33 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and ten non-counting "Approved Special Events".[2][3]
There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Tenerife Open, the Dubai Desert Classic, the Volvo Open Championship, the Murphy's Cup (an approved special event), the BMW International Open and the Catalan Open, which replaced the cancelled Barcelona Open. A renewal of the Europcar Cup, a team event which debuted in 1988, was planned but was ultimately cancelled.
Schedule edit
The following table lists official events during the 1989 season.[4]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (£) |
Winner[b] | OWGR points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Feb | Tenerife Open | Spain | 200,000 |  José María Olazábal (5)
|
18 | New tournament |
| 5 Mar | Karl Litten Desert Classic | UAE | US$450,000 | Mark James (10)
|
18 | New tournament |
| 13 Mar | Open Renault de Baleares | Spain | 225,000 |  Ove Sellberg (2)
|
26 | |
| Barcelona Open | Spain | – | Cancelled | – | ||
| 19 Mar | Massimo Dutti Catalan Open | Spain | 200,000 | Mark Roe (1)
|
18 | New tournament |
| 27 Mar | AGF Open | France | 150,000 | Mark James (11)
|
16 | |
| 2 Apr | Volvo Open Championship | Italy | 200,000 |  Vijay Singh (1)
|
16 | New tournament |
| 9 Apr | Jersey European Airways Open | Jersey | 150,000 |  Christy O'Connor Jnr (3)
|
16 | |
| 9 Apr | Masters Tournament | United States | US$1,000,000 | Nick Faldo (16)
|
100 | Major championship[c] |
| 16 Apr | Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open | France | 200,000 | Paul Broadhurst (1)
|
14 | |
| 23 Apr | Cepsa Madrid Open | Spain | 225,000 | Seve Ballesteros (40)
|
26 | |
| 30 Apr | Peugeot Spanish Open | Spain | 250,000 |  Bernhard Langer (20)
|
40 | |
| 7 May | Epson Grand Prix of Europe Matchplay Championship | Wales | 300,000 | Seve Ballesteros (41)
|
40 | Limited-field event |
| 14 May | Volvo Belgian Open | Belgium | 200,000 | Gordon J. Brand (1)
|
18 | |
| 21 May | Lancia Italian Open | Italy | 225,000 | Ronan Rafferty (1)
|
36 | |
| 30 May | Volvo PGA Championship | England | 350,000 | Nick Faldo (17)
|
64 | |
| 4 Jun | Dunhill British Masters | England | 300,000 | Nick Faldo (18)
|
42 | |
| 11 Jun | Wang Four Stars | England | 200,000 |  Craig Parry (1)
|
18 | Pro-Am |
| 18 Jun | NM English Open | England | 250,000 | Mark James (12)
|
16 | |
| 18 Jun | U.S. Open | United States | US$1,000,000 |  Curtis Strange (n/a)
|
100 | Major championship[c] |
| 25 Jun | Carroll's Irish Open | Ireland | 250,000 |  Ian Woosnam (12)
|
38 | |
| 2 Jul | Peugeot Open de France | France | 325,000 | Nick Faldo (19)
|
46 | |
| 8 Jul | Torras Monte Carlo Open | France | 300,000 |  Mark McNulty (8)
|
24 | |
| 15 Jul | Bell's Scottish Open | Scotland | 300,000 | Michael Allen (1)
|
46 | |
| 23 Jul | The Open Championship | Scotland | 725,000 | Mark Calcavecchia (n/a)
|
100 | Major championship |
| 30 Jul | KLM Dutch Open | Netherlands | 275,000 | José María Olazábal (6)
|
40 | |
| 6 Aug | Scandinavian Enterprise Open | Sweden | 325,000 | Ronan Rafferty (2)
|
32 | |
| 13 Aug | Benson & Hedges International Open | England | 300,000 |  Gordon Brand Jnr (7)
|
34 | |
| 13 Aug | PGA Championship | United States | US$1,200,000 | Payne Stewart (n/a)
|
100 | Major championship[c] |
| 20 Aug | PLM Open | Sweden | 300,000 | Mike Harwood (2)
|
24 | |
| 27 Aug | German Open | West Germany | 325,000 | Craig Parry (2)
|
38 | |
| 3 Sep | Ebel European Masters Swiss Open | Switzerland | 425,000 | Seve Ballesteros (42)
|
40 | |
| 10 Sep | Panasonic European Open | England | 350,000 | Andrew Murray (1)
|
64 | |
| 17 Sep | Trophée Lancôme | France | 400,000 |  Eduardo Romero (1)
|
64 | Limited-field event |
| 8 Oct | German Masters | West Germany | 325,000 | Bernhard Langer (21)
|
48 | |
| 15 Oct | BMW International Open | West Germany | 275,000 | David Feherty (3)
|
22 | New tournament |
| 22 Oct | Portuguese Open TPC | Portugal | 275,000 | Colin Montgomerie (1)
|
18 | |
| 29 Oct | Volvo Masters | Spain | 400,000 | Ronan Rafferty (3)
|
40 | Tour Championship |
Unofficial events edit
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Aug | Murphy's Cup | Wales | 160,000 |  Hugh Baiocchi
|
n/a | New tournament |
| 24 Sep | Ryder Cup | England | n/a | Tie ( Team Europe retain)
|
n/a | Team event |
| 26 Sep | Equity & Law Challenge | England | 135,000 | Brett Ogle
|
n/a | |
| 30 Sep | Motorola Classic | England | 60,000 | David Llewellyn
|
4 | |
| 1 Oct | Dunhill Cup | Scotland | US$1,200,000 | Team USA
|
n/a | Team event |
| 1 Oct | UAP European Under-25 Championship | France | n/a | Stephen Hamill
|
n/a | |
| 15 Oct | Suntory World Match Play Championship | England | 325,000 | Nick Faldo
|
36 | Limited-field event |
| Europcar Cup | France | – | Cancelled | – | Team event | |
| 5 Nov | Asahi Glass Four Tours World Championship | Japan | US$1,030,000 | Team USA
|
n/a | Team event |
| 12 Nov | Benson & Hedges Trophy | Spain | 200,000 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Xonia Wunsch-Ruiz
|
n/a | Team event |
| 19 Nov | World Cup | Spain | US$1,000,000 | Peter Fowler and Wayne Grady
|
n/a | Team event |
| World Cup Individual Trophy | Peter Fowler
|
n/a |
Order of Merit edit
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.[5]
| Position | Player | Prize money (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronan Rafferty |
400,311 |
| 2 | José María Olazábal |
336,239 |
| 3 | Craig Parry |
277,322 |
| 4 | Nick Faldo |
261,553 |
| 5 | Mark James |
245,917 |
| 6 | Ian Woosnam |
210,101 |
| 7 | Bernhard Langer |
205,195 |
| 8 | Seve Ballesteros |
202,763 |
| 9 | Mark McNulty |
179,694 |
| 10 | David Feherty |
178,167 |
Awards edit
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Nick Faldo |
[6] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Paul Broadhurst |
[7] |
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ A further one tournament was scheduled but was cancelled.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
References edit
- ^ White, Graeme (26 May 1987). "Volvo boost for Euro golf". Black Country Evening Mail. West Bromwich, United Kingdom. p. 33. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Rich pickings on the European Tour". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 18 October 1988. p. 14. Retrieved 28 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Sport in short | Fixtures | Golf". Sandwell Evening Mail. Sandwell, United Kingdom. 1 February 1989. p. 39. Retrieved 28 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "1989 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ Williams, Michael (30 October 1989). "Rafferty hits heights to overshadow Faldo". The Daily Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. p. 38. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Laidlaw, Renton (19 December 1989). "Now Faldo is putting on the Ritz". Evening Standard. London, United Kingdom. p. 40. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Broadhurst picked for Cotton award". The Daily Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. 28 November 1989. p. 40. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.