1998 European Tour

The 1998 European Tour, titled as the 1998 PGA European Tour,^[1] was the 27th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

1998 European Tour season

Duration	22 January 1998 (1998-1-22) – 1 November 1998 (1998-11-1)
Number of official events	38[a]
Most wins	Lee Westwood (4)
Order of Merit	Colin Montgomerie
Golfer of the Year	Lee Westwood
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Olivier Edmond
← 1997 1999 →

Changes for 1998

For the first time the schedule included the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open and PGA Championship, although winnings did not count towards the Order of Merit. There were several changes from the previous season with the addition of the Qatar Masters, the return of the Belgian Open and the loss of the Dimension Data Pro-Am.

In March, the Chemapol Trophy Czech Open was cancelled in the wake of severe floods across the country in July 1997;^[2] it was later replaced on the schedule by the German Open.^[3] In July, the tour announced the cancellation of the Oki Pro-Am.^[4]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1998 season.^[5][6][7]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner[b]	OWGR points	Other tours[c]	Notes
25 Jan	Johnnie Walker Classic	Thailand	750,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	40	ANZ
1 Feb	Heineken Classic	Australia	A$1,200,000	Thomas Bjørn (2)	34	ANZ
8 Feb	South African Open	South Africa	450,000	Ernie Els (6)	30	AFR
15 Feb	Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship	South Africa	400,000	Tony Johnstone (5)	36	AFR
1 Mar	Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$1,300,000	José María Olazábal (18)	42
8 Mar	Qatar Masters	Qatar	US$1,000,000	Andrew Coltart (1)	30		New tournament
15 Mar	Moroccan Open	Morocco	350,000	Stephen Leaney (1)	20
22 Mar	Portuguese Open	Portugal	350,000	Peter Mitchell (3)	20
12 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$3,200,000	Mark O'Meara (n/a)	100		Major championship[d]
19 Apr	Cannes Open	France	300,000	Thomas Levet (1)	20
26 Apr	Peugeot Open de España	Spain	550,000	Thomas Bjørn (3)	28
3 May	Italian Open	Italy	500,000	Patrik Sjöland (1)	22
10 May	Turespaña Masters Open Baleares	Spain	350,000	Miguel Ángel Jiménez (3)	20
17 May	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	750,000	Darren Clarke (3)	36
25 May	Volvo PGA Championship	England	1,200,000	Colin Montgomerie (15)	64		Flagship event
1 Jun	Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe	Germany	1,100,000	Lee Westwood (3)	42
7 Jun	National Car Rental English Open	England	650,000	Lee Westwood (4)	34
14 Jun	Compaq European Grand Prix	England	–	Abandoned[e]	–
21 Jun	Madeira Island Open	Portugal	300,000	Mats Lanner (3)	20
21 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$3,000,000	Lee Janzen (n/a)	100		Major championship[d]
28 Jun	Peugeot Open de France	France	500,000	Sam Torrance (21)	22
5 Jul	Murphy's Irish Open	Ireland	1,000,000	David Carter (1)	38
11 Jul	Standard Life Loch Lomond	Scotland	850,000	Lee Westwood (5)	42
19 Jul	The Open Championship	England	1,700,000	Mark O'Meara (n/a)	100		Major championship
26 Jul	TNT Dutch Open	Netherlands	800,000	Stephen Leaney (2)	36
2 Aug	Volvo Scandinavian Masters	Sweden	800,000	Jesper Parnevik (4)	34
9 Aug	Chemapol Trophy Czech Open	Czech Republic	–	Cancelled[2]	–
9 Aug	German Open	Germany	700,000	Stephen Allan (1)	20
16 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$3,000,000	Vijay Singh (8)	100		Major championship[d]
23 Aug	Smurfit European Open	Ireland	1,200,000	Mathias Grönberg (2)	38
30 Aug	BMW International Open	Germany	850,000	Russell Claydon (1)	32
6 Sep	Canon European Masters	Switzerland	800,000	Sven Strüver (3)	34
13 Sep	One 2 One British Masters	England	750,000	Colin Montgomerie (16)	34
20 Sep	Trophée Lancôme	France	800,000	Miguel Ángel Jiménez (4)	44
27 Sep	Linde German Masters	Germany	1,000,000	Colin Montgomerie (17)	40
4 Oct	Belgacom Open	Belgium	400,000	Lee Westwood (6)	22
25 Oct	Oki Pro-Am	Spain	–	Cancelled[4]	–
1 Nov	Volvo Masters	Spain	1,000,000	Darren Clarke (4)	42		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
11 Oct	Alfred Dunhill Cup	Scotland	1,000,000	Team South Africa	n/a	Team event
18 Oct	Cisco World Match Play Championship	England	650,000	Mark O'Meara	44	Limited-field event
18 Oct	Open Novotel Perrier	France	350,000	Olle Karlsson and Jarmo Sandelin	n/a	Team event
8 Nov	Subaru Sarazen World Open	United States	US$2,000,000	Dudley Hart	38
22 Nov	World Cup of Golf	New Zealand	US$1,300,000	David Carter and Nick Faldo	n/a	Team event
	World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy		US$200,000	Scott Verplank	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.^[9]

Position	Player	Prize money (£)
1	Colin Montgomerie	993,077
2	Darren Clarke	902,867
3	Lee Westwood	814,386
4	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	518,819
5	Patrik Sjöland	500,137
6	Thomas Bjørn	470,798
7	José María Olazábal	449,132
8	Ernie Els	433,884
9	Andrew Coltart	388,816
10	Mathias Grönberg	358,779

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Lee Westwood	[10]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Olivier Edmond	[11]

See also

• 1998 Challenge Tour
• 1998 European Seniors Tour

Notes

1. A further three tournaments were scheduled but were either cancelled or abandoned.
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. AFR − Southern Africa Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia.
4. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
5. Tournament abandoned due to persistent bad weather.^[8]