2006 European Tour

The 2006 European Tour was the 35th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

2006 European Tour season

Duration	10 November 2005 (2005-11-10) – 29 October 2006 (2006-10-29)
Number of official events	47
Most wins	Paul Casey (3)[a] Johan Edfors (3)
Order of Merit	Pádraig Harrington
Golfer of the Year	Paul Casey
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Marc Warren
← 2005 2007 →

Changes for 2006

Changes from the 2005 season included four new tournaments, the HSBC Champions in China, the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, the BA-CA Golf Open, which returned to the European Tour schedule for the first time since 1996, and the Royal Trophy, a team event contested between teams from Europe and Asia.^[1] In addition, there were two editions of the Volvo China Open and the Imperial Collection Russian Open became a full European Tour event having previously been a dual-ranking event with the Challenge Tour. The German Masters, the Heineken Classic, and the Abama Open de Canarias were lost from the tour schedule, as was the New Zealand Open which was held later in the year as part of the 2007 season.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2006 season.^[2][3]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse	Winner[b]	OWGR points	Other tours[c]	Notes
13 Nov	HSBC Champions	China	US$5,000,000	David Howell (3)	48	AFR,[d] ANZ,[e] ASA[f]	New limited-field event
27 Nov	Volvo China Open	China	US$1,300,000	Paul Casey (5)	18	ASA
4 Dec	UBS Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	US$1,200,000	Colin Montgomerie (30)	28	ASA
11 Dec	Dunhill Championship	South Africa	€1,000,000	Ernie Els (22)	20	AFR
18 Dec	South African Airways Open	South Africa	€1,000,000	Retief Goosen (13)	32	AFR[g]
22 Jan	Abu Dhabi Golf Championship	UAE	US$2,000,000	Chris DiMarco (n/a)	42		New tournament
29 Jan	Commercialbank Qatar Masters	Qatar	US$2,000,000	Henrik Stenson (3)	44	ASA
5 Feb	Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$2,400,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	48
12 Feb	Johnnie Walker Classic	Australia	£1,250,000	Kevin Stadler (n/a)	44	ANZ, ASA
19 Feb	Maybank Malaysian Open	Malaysia	US$1,250,000	Charlie Wi (1)	20	ASA
26 Feb	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	United States	US$7,500,000	Geoff Ogilvy (1)	76		World Golf Championship
5 Mar	Enjoy Jakarta HSBC Indonesia Open	Indonesia	US$1,000,000	Simon Dyson (1)	20	ASA
12 Mar	OSIM Singapore Masters	Singapore	US$1,000,000	Mardan Mamat (1)	20	ASA
19 Mar	TCL Classic	China	US$1,000,000	Johan Edfors (1)	24	ASA
26 Mar	Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos	Portugal	€700,000	Jean van de Velde (2)	24
2 Apr	Algarve Open de Portugal	Portugal	€1,250,000	Paul Broadhurst (6)	24
9 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$7,000,000	Phil Mickelson (n/a)	100		Major championship
16 Apr	Volvo China Open	China	US$1,800,000	Jeev Milkha Singh (1)	24	ASA
23 Apr	BMW Asian Open	China	US$1,800,000	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (2)	30	ASA
30 Apr	Andalucía Open de España Valle Romano	Spain	€1,650,000	Niclas Fasth (4)	24
7 May	Telecom Italia Open	Italy	€1,400,000	Francesco Molinari (1)	24
14 May	Quinn Direct British Masters	England	£1,800,000	Johan Edfors (2)	42
21 May	Nissan Irish Open	Ireland	€2,200,000	Thomas Bjørn (9)	38
28 May	BMW Championship	England	€4,250,000	David Howell (4)	64		Flagship event
4 Jun	Celtic Manor Wales Open	Wales	£1,500,000	Robert Karlsson (6)	28
11 Jun	BA-CA Golf Open	Austria	€1,300,000	Markus Brier (1)	24
18 Jun	Aa St Omer Open	France	€400,000	César Monasterio (1)	18	CHA
18 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$6,250,000	Geoff Ogilvy (2)	100		Major championship
25 Jun	Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles	Scotland	£1,400,000	Paul Casey (6)	24
2 Jul	Open de France Alstom	France	€4,000,000	John Bickerton (2)	40
9 Jul	Smurfit Kappa European Open	Ireland	£2,400,000	Stephen Dodd (3)	46
16 Jul	Barclays Scottish Open	Scotland	£2,400,000	Johan Edfors (3)	50
23 Jul	The Open Championship	England	£4,000,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	100		Major championship
30 Jul	Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe	Germany	€3,600,000	Robert Karlsson (7)	50
6 Aug	EnterCard Scandinavian Masters	Sweden	€1,600,000	Marc Warren (1)	24
13 Aug	KLM Open	Netherlands	€1,600,000	Simon Dyson (2)	24
20 Aug	Imperial Collection Russian Open	Russia	US$1,000,000	Alejandro Cañizares (1)	24
20 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$6,800,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	100		Major championship
27 Aug	WGC-Bridgestone Invitational	United States	US$7,500,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	76		World Golf Championship
3 Sep	BMW International Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Henrik Stenson (4)	44
10 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	€2,000,000	Bradley Dredge (2)	24
17 Sep	HSBC World Match Play Championship	England	£1,660,000	Paul Casey (7)	48		Limited-field event
17 Sep	XXXII Banco Madrid Valle Romano Open de Madrid Golf Masters	Spain	€1,000,000	Ian Poulter (7)	24
1 Oct	WGC-American Express Championship	England	US$7,500,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	70		World Golf Championship
8 Oct	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	US$5,000,000	Pádraig Harrington (10)	50		Pro-Am
22 Oct	Mallorca Classic	Spain	€1,750,000	Niclas Fasth (5)	28
29 Oct	Volvo Masters	Spain	€4,000,000	Jeev Milkha Singh (2)	48		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	Winners	OWGR points	Notes
8 Jan	Royal Trophy	Thailand	US$1,250,000	Team Europe	n/a	New team event
24 Sep	Ryder Cup	Ireland	n/a	Team Europe	n/a	Team event
10 Dec	WGC-World Cup	Barbados	US$4,000,000	Bernhard Langer and Marcel Siem	n/a	World Golf Championship Team event

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.^[4][5]

Position	Player	Prize money (€)
1	Pádraig Harrington	2,489,337
2	Paul Casey	2,454,084
3	David Howell	2,321,116
4	Robert Karlsson	2,044,936
5	Ernie Els	1,716,208
6	Henrik Stenson	1,709,359
7	Luke Donald	1,658,060
8	Ian Poulter	1,589,070
9	Colin Montgomerie	1,534,748
10	Johan Edfors	1,505,583

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Paul Casey	[6]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Marc Warren	[7]

See also

• 2006 in golf
• 2006 European Seniors Tour

Notes

1. Tiger Woods won five events, but was not a European Tour member.
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 − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour.
4. Sunshine Tour unofficial event
5. PGA Tour of Australasia unofficial event
6. Asian Tour unofficial event
7. Sunshine Tour flagship event