1988 European Tour

1988 European Tour season

Duration	10 March 1988 (1988-03-10) – 30 October 1988 (1988-10-30)
Number of official events	30 [lower-alpha 1]
Most wins	Seve Ballesteros (5)
Order of Merit	Seve Ballesteros
Golfer of the Year	Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Colin Montgomerie
← 1987 1989 →

The 1988 European Tour, titled as the 1988 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Volvo title sponsorship

In May 1987, it was announced that the tour had signed a title sponsorship agreement with Volvo, being renamed as the Volvo Tour. ^[1] The agreement was reported to be worth £ 10,000,000 over five years. ^[2]

Changes for 1988

The season was made up of 30 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events". ^[3]

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Open de Baleares, the Biarritz Open, the English Open and the Volvo Masters; the return of the Torras Hostench Barcelona Open, which had been cancelled due to bad weather in 1987; and the loss of the Lawrence Batley International. ^{[4] [5]} The Moroccan Open, originally scheduled to open the season, was initially postponed until October but ultimately cancelled. ^[6]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1988 season. ^[7]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner [lower-alpha 2]	OWGR points	Notes
13 Mar	Mallorca Open de Baleares	Spain	200,000	Seve Ballesteros (35)	20	New tournament
20 Mar	Torras Hostench Barcelona Open	Spain	200,000	David Whelan (1)	18
3 Apr	AGF Biarritz Open	France	150,000	David Llewellyn (1)	16	New tournament
10 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$1,000,000	Sandy Lyle (14)	100	Major championship [lower-alpha 3]
17 Apr	Cannes Open	France	200,000	Mark McNulty (7)	20
24 Apr	Cepsa Madrid Open	Spain	200,000	Derrick Cooper (1)	22
1 May	Portuguese Open	Portugal	200,000	Mike Harwood (1)	18
8 May	Epson Grand Prix of Europe Matchplay Championship	Wales	275,000	Bernhard Langer (19)	40	Limited-field event
15 May	Peugeot Spanish Open	Spain	175,000	Mark James (9)	38
22 May	Lancia Italian Open	Italy	225,000	Greg Norman (12)	24
30 May	Volvo PGA Championship	England	300,000	Ian Woosnam (9)	44
5 Jun	Dunhill British Masters	England	250,000	Sandy Lyle (15)	42
12 Jun	Wang Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity	England	200,000	Rodger Davis (3)	20	Pro-Am
19 Jun	Volvo Belgian Open	Belgium	200,000	José María Olazábal (3)	16
19 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$1,000,000	Curtis Strange (n/a)	100	Major championship [lower-alpha 3]
26 Jun	Peugeot Open de France	France	275,000	Nick Faldo (14)	40
2 Jul	Monte Carlo Open	France	200,000	José Rivero (3)	24
9 Jul	Bell's Scottish Open	Scotland	250,000	Barry Lane (1)	44
17 Jul	The Open Championship	England	500,000	Seve Ballesteros (36)	100	Major championship
24 Jul	KLM Dutch Open	Netherlands	250,000	Mark Mouland (2)	34
31 Jul	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	250,000	Seve Ballesteros (37)	34
7 Aug	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	250,000	Peter Baker (1)	38
14 Aug	PLM Open	Sweden	200,000	Frank Nobilo (1)	16
14 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$1,000,000	Jeff Sluman (n/a)	100	Major championship [lower-alpha 3]
21 Aug	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	225,000	Ian Woosnam (10)	42
28 Aug	German Open	West Germany	275,000	Seve Ballesteros (38)	38
4 Sep	Ebel European Masters Swiss Open	Switzerland	400,000	Chris Moody (1)	44
11 Sep	Panasonic European Open	England	300,000	Ian Woosnam (11)	42
18 Sep	Trophée Lancôme	France	400,000	Seve Ballesteros (39)	46	Limited-field event
25 Sep	German Masters	West Germany	300,000	José María Olazábal (4)	44
2 Oct	English Open	England	175,000	Howard Clark (11)	16	New tournament
9 Oct 6 Mar	Moroccan Open	Morocco	–	Cancelled	–
23 Oct	BNP Jersey Open	Jersey	125,000	Des Smyth (6)	16
30 Oct	Volvo Masters	Spain	350,000	Nick Faldo (15)	44	New tournament Tour Championship

Unofficial events

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
10 Oct	Suntory World Match Play Championship	England	275,000	Sandy Lyle	32	Limited-field event
16 Oct	Dunhill Cup	Scotland	US$1,000,000	Team England	n/a	Team event
18 Oct	Equity & Law Challenge	England	125,000	Ronan Rafferty	n/a
27 Oct	UAP European Under-25 Championship	France	n/a	Jean van de Velde	n/a
6 Nov	Europcar Cup	France	n/a	Team Sweden	n/a	Team event
13 Nov	Benson & Hedges Trophy	Spain	200,000	Mark McNulty and Marie-Laure Taya	n/a	Team event
11 Dec	World Cup	Australia	US$750,000	Ben Crenshaw and Mark McCumber	n/a	Team event
	World Cup Individual Trophy			Ben Crenshaw	n/a
18 Dec	Kirin Cup	United States	US$1,000,000	Team USA	n/a	Team event

Order of Merit

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. ^{[8] [9]}

Position	Player	Prize money (£)
1	Seve Ballesteros	451,560
2	Nick Faldo	347,971
3	José María Olazábal	285,964
4	Ian Woosnam	234,991
5	Sandy Lyle	186,018
6	Mark McNulty	180,992
7	Des Smyth	171,951
8	Mark James	152,900
9	Ronan Rafferty	132,395
10	José Rivero	131,079

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Seve Ballesteros	[10]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Colin Montgomerie	[11]

Notes

1. A further one tournament was scheduled but was cancelled.
2. 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.
3. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References

1. 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.
2. Williams, Michael (26 May 1987). "PGA Tour in £10m Volvo deal" . The Daily Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. p. 29. Retrieved 20 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
3. Platts, Mitchell (1 December 1987). "Shooting for £10m in the rosy tour garden of Europe" . The Times. p. 42. Retrieved 26 May 2020– via The Times Digital Archive.
4. Davies, David (1 December 1987). "Rich pickings for Europe's Volvo drivers" . The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
5. "At last! English get their own Open" . Irish Independent. 26 January 1988. p. 15. Retrieved 25 May 2020– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Sport in brief | Open closed" . The Times. 12 September 1988. p. 38. Retrieved 26 May 2020– via The Times Digital Archive.
7. "1988 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
8. "Golf | European Order of Merit" . Birmingham Metronews. Birmingham, United Kingdom. 2 November 1988. p. 19. Retrieved 20 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
9. Moseley, Ron (1 November 1988). "Europeans on top of the world" . Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Huddersfield, United Kingdom. Press Association. p. 13. Retrieved 20 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
10. Laidlaw, Renton (20 December 1988). "Seve wins another award" . Evening Standard. London, United Kingdom. p. 38. Retrieved 20 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Colin named top 'Rookie'" . Evening Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom. 14 November 1988. p. 17. Retrieved 20 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Official website