1990 European Tour

The 1990 European Tour, titled as the 1990 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

1990 European Tour season

Duration	15 February 1990 (1990-02-15) – 28 October 1990 (1990-10-28)
Number of official events	37[a]
Most wins	Ian Woosnam (4)
Order of Merit	Ian Woosnam
Golfer of the Year	Nick Faldo
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Russell Claydon
← 1989 1991 →

It was the third season of the tour under a title sponsorship agreement with Volvo, that was announced in May 1987.^[1]

Changes for 1990

The season was made up of 37 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and seven non-counting "Approved Special Events".^[2]

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Atlantic Open, the Amex Med Open and the Austrian Open; and the promotion of the Murphy's Cup to full Order of Merit status.

Before the official schedule was announced the Tenerife Open was dropped,^[3] but later returned in place of the cancelled Catalan Open.^[4] In late February the Jersey Open was cancelled and replaced by a new tournament in Spain, the El Bosque Open.^[5]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1990 season.^[6]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner[b]	OWGR points	Notes
18 Feb	Vinho Verde Atlantic Open	Portugal	200,000	Stephen McAllister (1)	16	New tournament
25 Feb	Emirates Airlines Desert Classic	UAE	US$450,000	Eamonn Darcy (4)	40
4 Mar	Amex Med Open	Spain	400,000	Ian Woosnam (13)	30	New tournament
11 Mar	Open Renault de Baleares	Spain	275,000	Seve Ballesteros (43)	30
18 Mar	Catalan Open	Spain	–	Cancelled	–
18 Mar	Tenerife Open	Spain	200,000	Vicente Fernández (3)	18
25 Mar	Volvo Open di Firenze	Italy	200,000	Eduardo Romero (2)	16
1 Apr	AGF Open	France	200,000	Brett Ogle (1)	16
8 Apr	Jersey Open	Jersey	–	Cancelled	–
8 Apr	El Bosque Open	Spain	200,000	Vijay Singh (2)	16	New tournament
8 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$1,250,000	Nick Faldo (20)	100	Major championship[c]
16 Apr	Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open	France	300,000	Mark McNulty (9)	28
22 Apr	Cepsa Madrid Open	Spain	275,000	Bernhard Langer (22)	40
29 Apr	Peugeot Spanish Open	Spain	300,000	Rodger Davis (4)	44
7 May	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	350,000	José María Olazábal (7)	48
13 May	Peugeot-Trends Belgian Open	Belgium	250,000	Ove Sellberg (3)	26
20 May	Lancia Martini Italian Open	Italy	300,000	Richard Boxall (1)	36
28 May	Volvo PGA Championship	England	400,000	Mike Harwood (3)	64	Flagship event[d]
3 Jun	Dunhill British Masters	England	300,000	Mark James (13)	40
10 Jun	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	400,000	Craig Stadler (n/a)	30
17 Jun	Wang Four Stars	England	225,000	Rodger Davis (5)	16	Pro-Am
17 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$1,200,000	Hale Irwin (n/a)	100	Major championship[c]
24 Jun	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	350,000	José María Olazábal (8)	40
1 Jul	Peugeot Open de France	France	350,000	Philip Walton (1)	36
7 Jul	Torras Monte Carlo Open	France	350,000	Ian Woosnam (14)	34
14 Jul	Bell's Scottish Open	Scotland	400,000	Ian Woosnam (15)	56
22 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	500,000	Nick Faldo (21)	100	Major championship
29 Jul	KLM Dutch Open	Netherlands	350,000	Stephen McAllister (2)	32
5 Aug	PLM Open	Sweden	350,000	Ronan Rafferty (4)	22
12 Aug	Murphy's Cup	England	250,000	Tony Johnstone (2)	16
12 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$1,350,000	Wayne Grady (2)	100	Major championship[c]
19 Aug	NM English Open	England	400,000	Mark James (14)	34
26 Aug	Volvo German Open	West Germany	450,000	Mark McNulty (10)	26
2 Sep	Ebel European Masters Swiss Open	Switzerland	450,000	Ronan Rafferty (5)	34
9 Sep	Panasonic European Open	England	400,000	Peter Senior (3)	48
16 Sep	Trophée Lancôme	France	425,000	José María Olazábal (9)	50	Limited-field event
23 Sep	BMW International Open	West Germany	400,000	Paul Azinger (n/a)	44
30 Sep	Epson Grand Prix of Europe	Wales	400,000	Ian Woosnam (16)	46	Limited-field event
7 Oct	Mercedes German Masters	Germany	450,000	Sam Torrance (13)	46
14 Oct	Austrian Open	Austria	250,000	Bernhard Langer (23)	16	New tournament
21 Oct	Portuguese Open TPC	Portugal	275,000	Michael McLean (1)	20
28 Oct	Volvo Masters	Spain	450,000	Mike Harwood (4)	44	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
6 Jul	J. P. McManus Pro-Am	Ireland	n/a	Roger Chapman	n/a	Pro-Am
16 Sep	Motorola Classic	England	60,000	Paul Broadhurst	4
23 Sep	Suntory World Match Play Championship	England	350,000	Ian Woosnam	48	Limited-field event
25 Sep	Equity & Law Challenge	England	120,000	Brian Marchbank	n/a
30 Sep	UAP European Under-25 Championship	England	n/a	Peter Baker	n/a
14 Oct	Dunhill Cup	Scotland	US$1,000,000	Team Ireland	n/a	Team event
4 Nov	Benson & Hedges Trophy	Spain	200,000	Tania Abitbol and José María Cañizares	n/a	Team event
4 Nov	Asahi Glass Four Tours World Championship	Japan	US$1,150,000	Team Australasia	n/a	Team event
24 Nov	World Cup	United States	US$1,100,000	Torsten Giedeon and Bernhard Langer	n/a	Team event
	World Cup Individual Trophy			Payne Stewart	n/a

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	Ian Woosnam	574,166
2	Mark McNulty	507,541
3	José María Olazábal	434,766
4	Bernhard Langer	320,450
5	Ronan Rafferty	309,851
6	Mike Harwood	280,084
7	Sam Torrance	248,203
8	David Feherty	237,830
9	Rodger Davis	233,841
10	Mark James	229,742

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Nick Faldo	[10]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Russell Claydon	[11]

See also

• 1990 Challenge Tour

Notes

1. A further two tournaments were scheduled but were 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.
4. Official World Golf Ranking "flagship" event status was granted to the European Tour for the first time in 1990, with the Volvo PGA Championship designated as the tour's flagship event.^[7]

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. "Euro golf dates". Aberdeen Evening Express. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 21 December 1989. p. 21. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "European Tour prize money climbs to £16 million". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. 22 December 1989. p. 21. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Sport in brief | Catalán off". The Times. 6 February 1990. p. 40. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
5. "La Moye pensioned off". The Times. 27 February 1990. p. 36. Retrieved 25 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
6. "1990 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
7. "How the ranking evolved". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
8. "1990 European Tour". The Observer. London, United Kingdom. 4 November 1990. p. 23. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
9. Platts, Mitchell (29 October 1990). "Order restored for Woosnam". The Times. p. 32. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
10. Moseley, Ron (21 December 1990). "Faldo retains Ritz trophy". Coventry Evening Telegraph. Coventry, United Kingdom. p. 44. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Claydon secures top rookie award". The Daily Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. 6 November 1990. p. 29. Retrieved 20 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Official website