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.
| 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 → | |
Changes for 1997 edit
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Players Championship, and the loss of the Catalan Open, the Austrian Open and the Scottish Open, which was effectively superseded by the Loch Lomond World Invitational.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 edit
The following table lists official events during the 1997 season.[2][3]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy | 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 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.[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 edit
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Colin Montgomerie |
[6] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Scott Henderson |
[7] |
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ 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 edit
- ^ "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.