2003 European Tour
| Duration | 21 November 2002 – 2 November 2003 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 45 |
| Most wins |  Ernie Els (4) |
| Order of Merit | Ernie Els |
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Peter Lawrie |
← 2002 2004 → | |
The 2003 European Tour was the 32nd season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
Changes for 2003[edit]
There were four new tournaments to the European Tour in 2003, the Nordic Open[1] and three dual-ranking events, the Aa St Omer Open, BMW Russian Open and Mallorca Classic. Lost from the tour schedule were the English Open, Great North Open and the dual-ranking North West of Ireland Open.[2]
Schedule[edit]
The following table lists official events during the 2003 season.[3]
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse | Winner[a] | OWGR points |
Other tours[b] |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Nov | BMW Asian Open | Taiwan | US$1,500,000 | Pádraig Harrington (6) |
16 | ASA | |
| 1 Dec | Omega Hong Kong Open | Hong Kong | US$700,000 |  Freddie Jacobson (1) |
16 | ASA | |
| 12 Jan | South African Airways Open | South Africa | £500,000 | Trevor Immelman (1) |
32 | AFR[c] | |
| 19 Jan | Dunhill Championship | South Africa | £500,000 |  Mark Foster (1) |
18 | AFR | |
| 26 Jan | Caltex Masters | Singapore | US$900,000 |  Zhang Lianwei (1) |
20 | ASA | |
| 2 Feb | Heineken Classic | Australia | A$2,000,000 | Ernie Els (12) |
30 | ANZ | |
| 9 Feb | ANZ Championship | Australia | A$1,750,000 | Paul Casey (2) |
30 | ANZ | |
| 16 Feb | Johnnie Walker Classic | Australia | £1,000,000 | Ernie Els (13) |
44 | ANZ, ASA | |
| 23 Feb | Carlsberg Malaysian Open | Malaysia | US$1,100,000 |  Arjun Atwal (2) |
20 | ASA | |
| 2 Mar | WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship | United States | US$6,000,000 |  Tiger Woods (n/a) |
76 | World Golf Championship | |
| 9 Mar | Dubai Desert Classic | UAE | US$2,000,000 |  Robert-Jan Derksen (1) |
30 | ||
| 16 Mar | Qatar Masters | Qatar | US$1,500,000 | Darren Fichardt (2) |
24 | ||
| 23 Mar | Madeira Island Open | Portugal | €600,000 |  Bradley Dredge (1) |
24 | CHA | |
| 13 Apr | Masters Tournament | United States | US$6,000,000 |  Mike Weir (n/a) |
100 | Major championship | |
| 20 Apr | Algarve Open de Portugal | Portugal | €1,250,000 | Freddie Jacobson (2) |
24 | ||
| 27 Apr | Canarias Open de España | Spain | €1,750,000 | Kenneth Ferrie (1) |
24 | ||
| 4 May | Italian Open Telecom Italia | Italy | €1,100,000 | Mathias Grönberg (4) |
24 | ||
| 11 May | Benson & Hedges International Open | England | £1,100,000 | Paul Casey (3) |
42 | ||
| 18 May | Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe | Germany | €2,700,000 | Pádraig Harrington (7) |
48 | ||
| 25 May | Volvo PGA Championship | England | €3,500,000 |  Ignacio Garrido (2) |
64 | Flagship event | |
| 1 Jun | Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open | Wales | £1,500,000 | Ian Poulter (4) |
24 | ||
| 8 Jun | Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters | England | £1,500,000 | Greg Owen (1) |
24 | ||
| 15 Jun | Aa St Omer Open | France | €400,000 |  Brett Rumford (1) |
16 | CHA | New to European Tour |
| 15 Jun | U.S. Open | United States | US$6,000,000 | Jim Furyk (n/a) |
100 | Major championship | |
| 22 Jun | Diageo Championship at Gleneagles | Scotland | £1,200,000 |  Søren Kjeldsen (1) |
24 | ||
| 29 Jun | Open de France | France | €2,500,000 | Philip Golding (1) |
24 | ||
| 6 Jul | Smurfit European Open | Ireland | £2,000,000 | Phillip Price (3) |
44 | ||
| 13 Jul | Barclays Scottish Open | Scotland | £2,200,000 | Ernie Els (14) |
50 | ||
| 20 Jul | The Open Championship | England | £3,900,000 | Ben Curtis (1) |
100 | Major championship | |
| 27 Jul | Nissan Irish Open | Ireland | €1,800,000 |  Michael Campbell (6) |
24 | ||
| 3 Aug | Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters | Sweden | €1,900,000 | Adam Scott (4) |
24 | ||
| 10 Aug | Nordic Open | Denmark | €1,600,000 | Ian Poulter (5) |
24 | New tournament | |
| 17 Aug | BMW Russian Open | Russia | €400,000 | Marcus Fraser (1) |
16 | CHA | New to European Tour |
| 17 Aug | PGA Championship | United States | US$6,000,000 | Shaun Micheel (n/a) |
100 | Major championship | |
| 24 Aug | WGC-NEC Invitational | United States | US$6,000,000 |  Darren Clarke (10) |
78 | World Golf Championship | |
| 31 Aug | BMW International Open | Germany | €1,800,000 | Lee Westwood (15) |
30 | ||
| 7 Sep | Omega European Masters | Switzerland | €1,600,000 | Ernie Els (15) |
30 | ||
| 14 Sep | Trophée Lancôme | France | €1,800,000 | Retief Goosen (9) |
26 | ||
| 21 Sep | Linde German Masters | Germany | €3,000,000 |  K. J. Choi (n/a) |
48 | ||
| 28 Sep | Dunhill Links Championship | Scotland | US$5,000,000 | Lee Westwood (16) |
52 | Pro-Am | |
| 5 Oct | WGC-American Express Championship | United States | US$6,000,000 | Tiger Woods (n/a) |
76 | World Golf Championship | |
| 12 Oct | Dutch Open | Netherlands | €1,000,000 | Maarten Lafeber (1) |
24 | ||
| 19 Oct | Turespaña Mallorca Classic | Spain | €400,000 | Miguel Ángel Jiménez (7) |
16 | CHA | New tournament |
| 26 Oct | Telefónica Open de Madrid | Spain | €1,400,000 |  Ricardo González (2) |
30 | ||
| 2 Nov | Volvo Masters Andalucía | Spain | US$4,000,000 | Freddie Jacobson (3) |
46 | 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 Oct | HSBC World Match Play Championship | England | £2,300,000 | Ernie Els |
n/a | Limited-field event |
| 9 Nov | Seve Trophy | Spain | n/a |  Team GB&I |
n/a | Team event |
| 18 Nov | WGC-World Cup | United States | US$4,000,000 | Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini |
n/a | World Golf Championship Team 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 Euros.[4][5]
| Position | Player | Prize money (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ernie Els |
2,975,374 |
| 2 | Darren Clarke |
2,210,051 |
| 3 | Pádraig Harrington |
1,555,623 |
| 4 | Freddie Jacobson |
1,521,303 |
| 5 | Ian Poulter |
1,500,855 |
| 6 | Paul Casey |
1,360,456 |
| 7 | Lee Westwood |
1,330,713 |
| 8 | Thomas Bjørn |
1,327,148 |
| 9 | Brian Davis |
1,245,513 |
| 10 | Phillip Price |
1,234,018 |
Awards[edit]
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
[6] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Peter Lawrie |
[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 − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian PGA Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour.
- ^ Sunshine Tour flagship event
References[edit]
- ^ "Nordic Open will make debut in 2003". ESPN. Reuters. 6 November 2002. Retrieved 5 May 2003.
- ^ "Golf". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. 27 November 2002. p. 24 (2C in paper). Retrieved 5 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
Russia will host its first top-tier European Tour event next year one of four new tournaments for 2003. The tour also added events in Denmark, France and Majorca. The English Open, the Great North Open in England and the North West of Ireland Open were dropped after sponsors withdrew.
- ^ "2003 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ "2003 Order of Merit". European Tour. Archived from the original on 14 March 2005. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ "Els takes European title". BBC Sport. 18 October 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ "Els named European player of year". CNN. 11 December 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- ^ "Lawrie Named Euro Tour Rookie of the Year". NBC Sports. 4 November 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2023.