2009 European Tour

The 2009 European Tour was the 38th series of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972. There were major changes for the 2009 season as the tour entered a partnership agreement with Dubai based Leisurecorp. The Order of Merit was renamed the Race to Dubai with the addition of a new season ending tournament, the Dubai World Championship, being contested by the leading 60 players after the penultimate event for a US$7.5 million prize fund and a US$7.5 million bonus pool.[1]

The 2009 season consisted of 54 official money tournaments, an increase of four from the previous year, although three events were ultimately cancelled. This included eight major championships and World Golf Championships, which are also sanctioned by the PGA Tour. 27 events took place in Europe, 14 in Asia, 6 in the United States, 3 in South Africa and 3 in Australia. There were two new tournaments, the Moravia Silesia Open in the Czech Republic and the Dubai World Championship.

The Race to Dubai was won by Lee Westwood, who finished as European number one for the second time. He won the season ending Dubai World Championship to overtake Rory McIlroy in the standings.[2] Westwood was also named Golfer of the Year,[3] with Chris Wood being named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, having recorded a 3rd-place finish in The Open Championship on his way to 44th on the end of season money list.[4]

Main tournaments

For details of what happened in the main tournaments of 2009, including the major championships and the World Golf Championships, see 2009 in golf.

Table of results

The table below shows the 2009 schedule.[5] There were 54 official money events, of which the first five events took place in late 2008. The season ran for 55 weeks, with a two-week break over Christmas and the New Year, and four weeks when no event was scheduled. There were four weeks when two official money events were played, with alternative tournaments being held alongside the majors and World Golf Championships, and a late co-sanctioning agreement with the Australian Masters. Due to plans to realign the schedule with the calendar year for 2010, the HSBC Champions, Hong Kong Open and the Australian Masters were held twice during the 2009 season. The HSBC Champions became a World Golf Championships event effective with its November 2009 edition.

The 2009 schedule included five events held late in the previous year, with the tour travelling outside of Europe until the Madeira Island Open in mid-March. Away from Europe, there were two regular events and one WGC event in China plus two in Hong Kong, China; three events in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates; three in Australia; and single events in Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea; plus the United States-based major championships and WGC events. One event that was due to be held in India was cancelled.

In December 2008 the Indian Masters, scheduled for February, was cancelled due to fallout from the ongoing financial crisis,[6] and then in January 2009 it was announced that the revival of the English Open, scheduled for August, would be postponed for at least two years after developers of the St. Mellion International Resort ran into financial difficulties.[7] In May it was announced that due to lack of sponsorship the British Masters had also been dropped from the schedule, with the Austrian Open being rescheduled from June to take its place on the calendar in September.[8]

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, Tiger Woods has won nearly 40 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
6-10 Nov HSBC Champions China Spain Sergio García (8) 52 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour,
PGA Tour of Australasia, and Sunshine Tour
20-23 Nov UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong Taiwan Lin Wen-tang (1) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
27-30 Nov Sportsbet Australian Masters Australia Australia Rod Pampling (1) 22 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
11-14 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship South Africa South Africa Richard Sterne (4) 24 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
18-21 Dec South African Open Championship South Africa South Africa Richard Sterne (5) 40 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
8-11 Jan Joburg Open South Africa Denmark Anders Hansen (3) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour
8-11 Jan Royal Trophy Thailand Asia n/a Team event - Europe vs. Asia.
Co-sanctioned with the Asian and Japan Golf Tours
15-18 Jan Abu Dhabi Golf Championship United Arab Emirates England Paul Casey (9) 48
22-25 Jan Commercialbank Qatar Masters Qatar Spain Álvaro Quirós (3) 54
29 Jan-1 Feb Dubai Desert Classic United Arab Emirates Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (1) 52
12-15 Feb Maybank Malaysian Open Malaysia United States Anthony Kang (1) 30 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
19-22 Feb Johnnie Walker Classic Australia New Zealand Danny Lee (1) (amateur) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
and PGA Tour of Australasia
25 Feb-1 Mar WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship United States Australia Geoff Ogilvy (4) 76 World Golf Championships
26 Feb-1 Mar Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open Indonesia Thailand Thongchai Jaidee (3) 20 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
12-15 Mar WGC-CA Championship United States United States Phil Mickelson (n/a) 78 World Golf Championships
19-22 Mar Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal Portugal Argentina Estanislao Goya (1) 24
26-29 Mar Open de Andalucía Spain Denmark Søren Kjeldsen (3) 24
2-5 Apr Estoril Open de Portugal Portugal Northern Ireland Michael Hoey (1) 24
9-12 Apr Masters Tournament United States Argentina Ángel Cabrera (5) 100 Major championship
16-19 Apr Volvo China Open China Australia Scott Strange (2) 18 Co-sanctioned with the OneAsia Tour
23-26 Apr Ballantine's Championship South Korea Thailand Thongchai Jaidee (4) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
30 Apr-3 May Open de España Spain France Thomas Levet (5) 24
7–10 May BMW Italian Open Italy Argentina Daniel Vancsik (2) 24
14–17 May The 3 Irish Open Ireland Republic of Ireland Shane Lowry (1) (amateur) 40
21–24 May BMW PGA Championship England England Paul Casey (10) 64 The European Tour's flagship event
28–31 May European Open England France Christian Cévaër (2) 48
4-7 Jun Celtic Manor Wales Open Wales Denmark Jeppe Huldahl (1) 24
18-22 Jun[N 1] U.S. Open United States United States Lucas Glover (n/a) 100 Major championship
18-21 Jun Saint-Omer Open France Sweden Christian Nilsson (1) 18 Dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour
25-28 Jun BMW International Open Germany England Nick Dougherty (3) 36
2-5 Jul Open de France France Germany Martin Kaymer (3) 44
9-12 Jul Barclays Scottish Open Scotland Germany Martin Kaymer (4) 54
16-19 Jul The Open Championship Scotland United States Stewart Cink (n/a) 100 Major championship
23-26 Jul SAS Masters Sweden Argentina Ricardo González (4) 24
30 Jul-2 Aug Moravia Silesia Open Czech Republic Sweden Oskar Henningsson (1) 24 New tournament
6-9 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational United States United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 76 World Golf Championships
13-16 Aug PGA Championship United States South Korea Yang Yong-eun (2) 100 Major championship
20-23 Aug KLM Open Netherlands England Simon Dyson (3) 24
27-30 Aug Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles Scotland Sweden Peter Hedblom (3) 24
3-6 Sep Omega European Masters Switzerland Sweden Alexander Norén (1) 32 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
10-13 Sep Mercedes-Benz Championship Germany South Africa James Kingston (2) 40
17-20 Sep Austrian Golf Open Austria Spain Rafael Cabrera-Bello (1) 24 Rescheduled from 11–14 June, following cancellation of the British Masters
24-27 Sep The Vivendi Trophy with Severiano Ballesteros France United Kingdom Great Britain & Republic of Ireland Ireland n/a Team event - Continental Europe v. Great Britain & Ireland
1-5 Oct[N 2] Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Scotland England Simon Dyson (4) 46 Celebrity pro-am
8-11 Oct Madrid Masters Spain England Ross McGowan (1) 26
15-18 Oct Portugal Masters Portugal England Lee Westwood (19) 46
22-25 Oct Castelló Masters Costa Azahar Spain Sweden Michael Jonzon (2) 28
29 Oct - 1 Nov Volvo World Match Play Championship Spain England Ross Fisher (3) 42 Last played in 2007
29 Oct - 1 Nov Barclays Singapore Open Singapore England Ian Poulter (8) 46 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
5-8 Nov WGC-HSBC Champions China United States Phil Mickelson (n/a) 66 World Golf Championships
12-15 Nov UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong France Grégory Bourdy (3) 44 Co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour
12-15 Nov JBWere Masters Australia United States Tiger Woods (n/a) 28 Co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia
19-22 Nov Dubai World Championship United Arab Emirates England Lee Westwood (20) 56 New tournament
The Tour Championship
  1. The tournament was scheduled to end on 21 June, but heavy rains during the event pushed the final round back to the following day.
  2. The tournament was scheduled to end on 4 October, but play on Saturday, 3 October was called off due to gale-force winds at all three courses. The third round was played on Sunday and the final round on Monday.

Race to Dubai

In 2009, the Order of Merit was rebranded as the Race To Dubai, with a bonus pool of $7.5 million[9] (originally $10 million) to be distributed among the top 15 players at the end of the season, of which the winner received $1.5 million[9] (originally $2 million). The new name reflects the addition of a new season ending tournament, the Dubai World Championship, held at the end of November in Dubai. The tournament also had a $7.5 million prize fund[9] (originally $10 million), and was contested by the leading 60 players in the race following the seasons penultimate event, the Hong Kong Open. The winner of the Race To Dubai also receives a ten-year European Tour exemption, while the winner of the Dubai World Championship tournament receives a five-year European Tour exemption.[10][1][11][12] The reduction in prize money, announced in September 2009,[9] was due to the global economic downturn.

Final standings

The following table shows the final Race to Dubai standings for 2009, including the top 15 players who qualified for the bonus pool.[13]

Rank Player Country Events Prize money ()
1 Lee Westwood  England 26 4,237,762
2 Rory McIlroy  Northern Ireland 25 3,610,020
3 Martin Kaymer  Germany 20 2,864,342
4 Ross Fisher  England 22 2,531,183
5 Paul Casey  England 14 2,362,947
6 Geoff Ogilvy  Australia 13 2,202,814
7 Oliver Wilson  England 25 2,010,158
8 Simon Dyson  England 32 1,807,753
9 Ian Poulter  England 15 1,773,470
10 Sergio García  Spain 17 1,660,788
11 Ernie Els  South Africa 17 1,571,577
12 Ross McGowan  England 30 1,558,808
13 Søren Kjeldsen  Denmark 26 1,529,253
14 Francesco Molinari  Italy 27 1,505,010
15 Pádraig Harrington  Ireland 16 1,468,232

Golfer of the Month

The winners of the European Tour Golfer of the Month Award were as follows:

Month Player Country
January Rory McIlroy  Northern Ireland
February Geoff Ogilvy  Australia
March Søren Kjeldsen  Denmark
April Ángel Cabrera  Argentina
May Shane Lowry  Ireland
June Nick Dougherty  England
July Martin Kaymer  Germany
August Lee Westwood  England
September Rafael Cabrera-Bello  Spain
October Ross Fisher  England
November Lee Westwood  England

See also

References

  1. "Lee Westwood wins Race to Dubai title". BBC Sport. 22 November 2009. Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  2. "Lee Westwood named as European Tour golfer of the year". BBC Sport. 8 December 2009. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
  3. "Golfer Wood wins top rookie award". BBC Sport. 25 November 2009. Archived from the original on 28 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
  4. "European Tour Schedule – 2009". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  5. "Golf-Financial crisis claims next year's Indian Masters". Reuters. 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  6. "Crunch delays golf championships". BBC News. 21 January 2009. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  7. "British Masters dropped from Tour". BBC Sport. 13 May 2009. Archived from the original on 16 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Dubai tourney winnings cut 25 percent". ESPN. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  9. "US boss welcomes European windfall". BBC Sport. 21 November 2007. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  10. "Race to Dubai". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  11. "Euro Tour Unveils Race to Dubai". Golf Channel. 19 November 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  12. "European Tour Race To Dubai – 2009". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 2016-04-20.

External links

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