British Masters

This article is about the British golf tournament. For the television series, see British Masters (TV series).

"Dunlop Masters" redirects here. For events of a similar name, see Dunlop Tournament.

The Betfred British Masters is a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently thereafter, with the words "British Masters" usually also in the tournament's official name. The tournament was not held from 2009 to 2014 but returned to the schedule in 2015.

Betfred British Masters

Tournament information
Location	Wishaw, Warwickshire, England
Established	1946
Course(s)	The Belfry (Brabazon Course)
Par	72
Length	7,336 yards (6,708 m)
Tour(s)	European Tour
Format	Stroke play
Prize fund	US$3,500,000
Month played	August/September
Tournament record score
Aggregate	260 Paul Dunne (2017)
To par	−22 Peter Baker (1993)
Current champion
Niklas Nørgaard
Location map
The Belfry Location in England Show map of England The Belfry Location in Warwickshire Show map of Warwickshire

History

The Dunlop Masters was first held in 1946 at Stoneham Golf Club in Southampton, and was a continuation of the Dunlop-Metropolitan Tournament which had been held before World War II. Like the Dunlop-Metropolitan, the Dunlop Masters was a 72-hole end-of-season event with a restricted field. The Dunlop-Metropolitan had been first played in 1934, the same year as The Masters. The event was sponsored by Dunlop from 1946 to 1982, during which time it continued to have a small field with no 36-hole cut. There were 50 competitors in the final Dunlop-sponsored event in 1982.^[1]

During the 1980s the British Masters was one of the most lucrative events on the European Tour with a prize fund that was as high as third among the tournaments on the schedule, but its status, or at least its relative level of prize money, has declined considerably in recent years.

The tournament has been played at many different venues; twice in the "Dunlop Masters" era it was held in the Republic of Ireland. When the Quinn Group took over as sponsors in 2006, the event was moved again, this time to the Group owned Belfry.

The deal with the Quinn Group ended in 2008, and when attempts to find another sponsor were unsuccessful, the British Masters was removed from the European Tour schedule for 2009.^[2]

Tournament hosts

The event returned in 2015 with a leading British golfer choosing the golf course and hosting the event. Since then the editions have been hosted by:

• 2015: Ian Poulter at Woburn Golf Club^[3]
• 2016: Luke Donald at The Grove^[4]
• 2017: Lee Westwood at Close House Golf Club^[3]
• 2018: Justin Rose at Walton Heath Golf Club^[5]
• 2019: Tommy Fleetwood at Hillside Golf Club^[3]
• 2020: Lee Westwood at Close House Golf Club^[3]
• 2021–2022: Danny Willett at The Belfry^[6][7]
• 2023–2026: Nick Faldo at The Belfry^[8]

Notable events

The 1967 event provided British television with its first live hole in one, as Tony Jacklin aced the 16th hole at Royal St George's.^[9]

In the 2021 event, Richard Bland, at age 48, claimed his first European Tour victory in his 478th start on the tour.^[10]

Winners

Year	Winner	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Venue	Ref.
Betfred British Masters
2024	Niklas Nørgaard	272	−16	2 strokes	Thriston Lawrence	The Belfry
2023	Daniel Hillier	278	−10	2 strokes	Gunner Wiebe Oliver Wilson	The Belfry
2022	Thorbjørn Olesen	278	−10	1 stroke	Sebastian Söderberg	The Belfry
2021	Richard Bland	275	−13	Playoff	Guido Migliozzi	The Belfry
2020	Renato Paratore	266	−18	3 strokes	Rasmus Højgaard	Close House
2019	Marcus Kinhult	272	−16	1 stroke	Robert MacIntyre Eddie Pepperell Matt Wallace	Hillside
Sky Sports British Masters
2018	Eddie Pepperell	279	−9	2 strokes	Alexander Björk	Walton Heath
British Masters
2017	Paul Dunne	260	−20	3 strokes	Rory McIlroy	Close House
2016	Alex Norén	266	−18	2 strokes	Bernd Wiesberger	The Grove
2015	Matt Fitzpatrick	269	−15	2 strokes	Søren Kjeldsen Shane Lowry Fabrizio Zanotti	Woburn
2010–2014: No tournament
2009	Cancelled due to lack of sponsorship
Quinn Insurance British Masters
2008	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño	276	−12	Playoff	Lee Westwood	The Belfry	[11]
Quinn Direct British Masters
2007	Lee Westwood	273	−15	5 strokes	Ian Poulter	The Belfry	[12]
2006	Johan Edfors	277	−11	1 stroke	Gary Emerson Stephen Gallacher Jarmo Sandelin	The Belfry	[13]
Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters
2005	Thomas Bjørn	282	−6	Playoff	Brian Davis David Howell	Forest of Arden	[14]
Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters
2004	Barry Lane	272	−16	3 strokes	Ángel Cabrera Eduardo Romero	Forest of Arden	[15]
2003	Greg Owen	274	−14	3 strokes	Christian Cévaër Ian Poulter	Forest of Arden	[16]
Victor Chandler British Masters
2002	Justin Rose	269	−19	1 stroke	Ian Poulter	Woburn	[17]
2001	Thomas Levet	274	−14	Playoff	Mathias Grönberg David Howell Robert Karlsson	Woburn	[18]
2000	Gary Orr	267	−21	2 strokes	Per-Ulrik Johansson	Woburn	[19]
1999	Bob May	269	−19	1 stroke	Colin Montgomerie	Woburn	[20]
One 2 One British Masters
1998	Colin Montgomerie	281	−7	1 stroke	Pierre Fulke Eduardo Romero	Forest of Arden	[21]
1997	Greg Turner	275	−13	1 stroke	Colin Montgomerie	Forest of Arden	[22]
1996	Robert Allenby	284	−4	Playoff	Miguel Ángel Martín	Collingtree Park	[23]
Collingtree British Masters
1995	Sam Torrance	270	−18	1 stroke	Michael Campbell	Collingtree Park
Dunhill British Masters
1994	Ian Woosnam (2)	271	−17	4 strokes	Seve Ballesteros	Woburn
1993	Peter Baker	266	−22	7 strokes	Carl Mason	Woburn	[24]
1992	Christy O'Connor Jnr	270	−18	Playoff	Tony Johnstone	Woburn	[25]
1991	Seve Ballesteros (2)	275	−13	3 strokes	Eamonn Darcy David Gilford Tony Johnstone Sam Torrance Keith Waters	Woburn
1990	Mark James	270	−18	2 strokes	David Feherty	Woburn
1989	Nick Faldo	267	−21	4 strokes	Ronan Rafferty	Woburn
1988	Sandy Lyle	273	−15	2 strokes	Nick Faldo Mark McNulty	Woburn
1987	Mark McNulty	274	−14	1 stroke	Ian Woosnam	Woburn	[26]
1986	Seve Ballesteros	275	−13	2 strokes	Gordon Brand Jnr	Woburn	[27]
1985	Lee Trevino	278	−10	3 strokes	Rodger Davis	Woburn
Silk Cut Masters
1984: No tournament
1983	Ian Woosnam	269	−15	3 strokes	Bernard Gallacher	St. Pierre
Dunlop Masters
1982	Greg Norman (2)	267	−17	8 strokes	Bernhard Langer	St. Pierre
1981	Greg Norman	273	−15	4 strokes	Graham Marsh	Woburn
1980	Bernhard Langer	270	−14	5 strokes	Brian Barnes	St. Pierre
1979	Graham Marsh	283	−5	1 stroke	Isao Aoki Neil Coles	Woburn
1978	Tommy Horton	279	−5	1 stroke	Dale Hayes Graham Marsh Brian Waites	St. Pierre
1977	Guy Hunt	291	+7	Playoff	Brian Barnes	Lindrick	[28]
1976	Baldovino Dassù	271	−13	1 stroke	Hubert Green	St. Pierre
1975	Bernard Gallacher (2)	289	+5	2 strokes	Dale Hayes	Ganton
1974	Bernard Gallacher	282	−2	Playoff	Gary Player	St. Pierre	[29]
1973	Tony Jacklin (2)	272	−12	7 strokes	Bob Charles	St. Pierre	[30]
1972	Bob Charles	277	−11	2 strokes	Tony Jacklin	Northumberland
1971	Maurice Bembridge	273	−11	2 strokes	Peter Oosterhuis	St. Pierre	[31]
1970	Brian Huggett	293	+9	5 strokes	David Graham	Royal Lytham & St Annes	[32]
1969	Cobie Legrange (2)	281		3 strokes	Peter Butler	Little Aston	[33]
1968	Peter Thomson (2)	274		5 strokes	Dave Thomas	Sunningdale	[34]
1967	Tony Jacklin	274		3 strokes	Neil Coles	Royal St George's	[35][36]
1966	Neil Coles	278		1 stroke	Christy O'Connor Snr Peter Thomson	Lindrick	[37]
1965	Bernard Hunt (2)	283		1 stroke	Peter Thomson	Portmarnock	[38]
1964	Cobie Legrange	288		1 stroke	Max Faulkner Ralph Moffitt	Royal Birkdale	[39][40]
1963	Bernard Hunt	282		Playoff	Ralph Moffitt	Little Aston	[41]
1962	Dai Rees	278		2 strokes	Ralph Moffitt Peter Thomson	Wentworth	[42]
1961	Peter Thomson	284		8 strokes	Christy O'Connor Snr	Royal Porthcawl	[43]
1960	Jimmy Hitchcock	275		2 strokes	Max Faulkner John Jacobs Bobby Locke	Sunningdale	[44]
1959	Christy O'Connor Snr (2)	276		4 strokes	Joe Carr (a) Norman Drew	Portmarnock	[45]
1958	Harry Weetman (2)	276		4 strokes	Bobby Locke	Little Aston	[46]
1957	Eric Brown	275		3 strokes	Peter Alliss	Notts	[47]
1956	Christy O'Connor Snr	277		1 stroke	Eric Brown	Prestwick	[48]
1955	Harry Bradshaw (2)	277		4 strokes	Henry Cotton	Little Aston	[49]
1954	Bobby Locke (2)	291		3 strokes	Harry Bradshaw	Prince's	[50]
1953	Harry Bradshaw	272		3 strokes	Max Faulkner	Sunningdale	[51]
1952	Harry Weetman	281		4 strokes	Arthur Lees	Mere	[52]
1951	Max Faulkner	281		4 strokes	Reg Horne	Wentworth	[53]
1950	Dai Rees	281		4 strokes	Charlie Ward	Royal Liverpool	[54]
1949	Charlie Ward	290		Playoff	John Burton	St Andrews	[55][56]
1948	Norman Von Nida	272		2 strokes	Fred Daly	Sunningdale	[57]
1947	Arthur Lees	283		Playoff	Norman Von Nida	Little Aston	[58][59]
1946	Jimmy Adams Bobby Locke	286		Title shared		Stoneham	[9][60]

Multiple winners

• 2 wins: Seve Ballesteros, Harry Bradshaw, Bernard Gallacher, Bernard Hunt, Tony Jacklin, Cobie Legrange, Bobby Locke, Greg Norman, Christy O'Connor Snr, Dai Rees, Peter Thomson, Harry Weetman, Ian Woosnam

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External links

• Coverage on the European Tour's official website

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