| Duration | 16 November 2000 – 11 November 2001 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 46 |
| Most wins |  Retief Goosen (3) [a] |
| Order of Merit | Retief Goosen |
| Golfer of the Year | Retief Goosen |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Paul Casey |
← 2000 2002 → | |
The 2001 European Tour, titled as the 2001 PGA European Tour, [1] was the 30th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
There were several changes from the previous season, with the Dunhill Links Championship replacing the Dunhill Cup, [2] the Open de Madrid replacing the Turespaña Masters, the Standard Life Loch Lomond being rebranded as the revived Scottish Open, [3] the addition the Caltex Singapore Masters, the Argentine Open [4] and the São Paulo Brazil Open; the return of the Estoril Open; and the loss of the Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open and the Belgian Open.
The terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September led to changes on the tour schedule with the WGC-American Express Championship being cancelled and the Ryder Cup matches at The Belfry being postponed until 2002. The Estoril Open was also cancelled in the wake of the attacks, and was replaced on the schedule with a revival of the Cannes Open. [5]
The following table lists official events during the 2001 season. [6]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryder Cup | England | n/a | Postponed [7] | n/a | Team event | |
| 14 Oct | Cisco World Match Play Championship | England | £1,000,000 |  Ian Woosnam | n/a | Limited-field event |
| 18 Nov | WGC-World Cup | Japan | US$3,000,000 | Ernie Els and Retief Goosen | n/a | World Golf Championship Team event |
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. [8] [9]
| Position | Player | Prize money (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retief Goosen | 2,862,806 |
| 2 |  Pádraig Harrington | 2,090,166 |
| 3 |  Darren Clarke | 1,988,055 |
| 4 | Ernie Els | 1,716,287 |
| 5 |  Colin Montgomerie | 1,578,676 |
| 6 |  Michael Campbell | 1,577,130 |
| 7 |  Thomas Bjørn | 1,474,802 |
| 8 | Paul McGinley | 1,464,434 |
| 9 | Paul Lawrie | 1,428,831 |
| 10 |  Niclas Fasth | 1,224,588 |
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Retief Goosen | [10] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Paul Casey | [11] |
Retief Goosen is a South African professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He has won two U.S. Opens, in 2001 and 2004, headed the European Tour Order of Merit in 2001 and 2002, and was in the top ten of the world rankings for over 250 weeks between 2001 and 2007. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, class of 2019.
The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour and the developmental Challenge Tour; the second tier of men's professional golf in Europe. The tour's headquarters are at the Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. The European Tour was established by the British-based Professional Golfers' Association through the 1970s, and responsibility was transferred to an independent PGA European Tour organisation in 1984.
Pádraig Peter Harrington is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008. He spent over 300 weeks in the top-10 of the world rankings, and reached a career-high ranking of the third spot in July 2008. Harrington was a member of six consecutive Ryder Cup teams between 1999 and 2010. In 2024, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
David Alexander Howell is an English professional golfer. His career peaked in 2006, when he won the BMW Championship and was ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for a short time. He played in the Ryder Cup in 2004 and 2006. Howell holds the record for most starts on the European Tour.
Darren Christopher Clarke, is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions and has previously played on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He has won 21 tournaments worldwide on a number of golf's main tours including the PGA Tour, European Tour, Japan Golf Tour and Sunshine Tour. His biggest victory came when he won the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George's in England, his first major win after more than 20 years and 54 attempts.
Paul Stewart Lawrie is a Scottish professional golfer who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1999. He was a vice-captain for the European Ryder Cup team in 2016.
Charl Adriaan Schwartzel is a South African professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf Invitational Series and has previously played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and the Sunshine Tour. He has won one major title, the Masters in 2011. Schwartzel's highest world ranking has been number six, after finishing in a tie for fourth at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in 2012.
Paul Andrew Broadhurst is an English professional golfer. He won six times on the European Tour and played in the 1991 Ryder Cup. Since turning 50, he has had success in senior events, winning the 2016 Senior Open Championship and the 2018 Senior PGA Championship.
Thomas Bjørn is a Danish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he also became the first Dane to qualify for a European Ryder Cup team. He captained the winning European side at the 2018 Ryder Cup.
Samuel Robert Torrance is a Scottish professional golfer and sports commentator. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, with 21 Tour wins. Torrance was a member of European Ryder Cup teams on eight occasions consecutively; on Cup-winning teams four times. He was also part of the winning Scotland team at the 1995 Dunhill Cup. He was the winning non-playing captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2002. Torrance was honoured with the MBE (1996) and OBE (2003), for his outstanding contributions to golf.
Michael Shane Campbell is a New Zealand professional golfer who is best known for having won the 2005 U.S. Open and, at the time, the richest prize in golf, the £1,000,000 HSBC World Match Play Championship, in the same year. He played on the European Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Barry Douglas Lane was an English professional golfer. He won five official European Tour events between 1988 and 2004. He played in the 1993 Ryder Cup and won the inaugural Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf in late 1995. After reaching 50 he had considerable success on the European Senior Tour, winning eight times between 2010 and 2019.
Jarmo Sakari Sandelin is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the European Senior Tour. He had five European Tour wins and played in the 1999 Ryder Cup.
Desmond John Smyth is an Irish professional golfer. He won eight times on the European Tour between 1979 and 2001. He also had a successful senior career winning twice on the PGA Tour Champions and five times on the European Senior Tour between 2005 and 2012. He played in two Ryder Cup matches, 1979 and 1981.
Oliver John Wilson is an English professional golfer. Wilson was a member of the 2008 Ryder Cup, but had to wait another six years for his first European Tour win, the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Branden John Grace is a professional golfer from South Africa who currently plays for LIV Golf. He formerly played on the European Tour, the PGA Tour, and the Sunshine Tour. In 2012, he became the first player in the history of the European Tour to win his first four European Tour titles in the same year.
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