2008 European Tour

The 2008 European Tour was the 37th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

2008 European Tour season

Duration	8 November 2007 (2007-11-08) – 2 November 2008 (2008-11-02)
Number of official events	52[a]
Most wins	Darren Clarke (2)[b] Richard Finch (2) Pádraig Harrington (2) Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2) Robert Karlsson (2) Martin Kaymer (2) Graeme McDowell (2)
Order of Merit	Robert Karlsson
Golfer of the Year	Pádraig Harrington
Players' Player of the Year	Pádraig Harrington
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Pablo Larrazábal
← 2007 2009 →

Changes for 2008

There were four new tournaments, the Emaar-MGF Indian Masters, the Ballantine's Championship in South Korea,^[1] and in Spain the Madrid Masters and the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar. Lost from the tour schedule were the Singapore Masters,^[2] the TCL Classic, the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe, the Madrid Open and the Mallorca Classic. The World Match Play Championship was originally scheduled, but was not held; it returned in 2009 with a new sponsor and venue.^[3]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2008 season.^[4]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse	Winner[c]	OWGR points	Other tours[d]	Notes
11 Nov	HSBC Champions	China	US$5,000,000	Phil Mickelson (n/a)	52	AFR,[e] ANZ,[f] ASA[g]	Limited-field event
18 Nov	UBS Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	US$2,250,000	Miguel Ángel Jiménez (14)	36	ASA
25 Nov	MasterCard Masters	Australia	A$1,500,000	Aaron Baddeley (n/a)	24	ANZ
2 Dec	Michael Hill New Zealand Open	New Zealand	NZ$1,500,000	Richard Finch (1)	20	ANZ
9 Dec	Alfred Dunhill Championship	South Africa	€1,000,000	John Bickerton (3)	22	AFR
16 Dec	South African Airways Open	South Africa	€1,000,000	James Kingston (1)	32	AFR[h]
13 Jan	Joburg Open	South Africa	€1,100,000	Richard Sterne (3)	20	AFR
20 Jan	Abu Dhabi Golf Championship	UAE	US$2,000,000	Martin Kaymer (1)	44
27 Jan	Commercialbank Qatar Masters	Qatar	US$2,500,000	Adam Scott (6)	46
3 Feb	Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$2,500,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	50
10 Feb	Emaar-MGF Indian Masters	India	US$2,500,000	Shiv Chawrasia (1)	26	ASA	New tournament
17 Feb	Singapore Masters	Singapore	–	Cancelled[2]	–	ASA
17 Feb	Enjoy Jakarta Astro Indonesia Open	Indonesia	US$1,200,000	Felipe Aguilar (1)	20	ASA
24 Feb	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	United States	US$8,000,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	76		World Golf Championship
2 Mar	Johnnie Walker Classic	India	£1,250,000	Mark Brown (1)	38	ANZ, ASA
9 Mar	Maybank Malaysian Open	Malaysia	US$2,000,000	Arjun Atwal (3)	24	ASA
16 Mar	Ballantine's Championship	South Korea	€2,000,000	Graeme McDowell (3)	28	ASA, KOR	New tournament
23 Mar	Madeira Islands Open BPI - Portugal	Portugal	€700,000	Alastair Forsyth (2)	24
23 Mar	WGC-CA Championship	United States	US$8,000,000	Geoff Ogilvy (3)	76		World Golf Championship
30 Mar	MAPFRE Open de Andalucia	Spain	€1,000,000	Thomas Levet (4)	24
6 Apr	Estoril Open de Portugal	Portugal	€1,250,000	Grégory Bourdy (2)	24
13 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$7,500,000	Trevor Immelman (4)	100		Major championship
20 Apr	Volvo China Open	China	US$2,200,000	Damien McGrane (1)	20	ASA
27 Apr	BMW Asian Open	China	US$2,300,000	Darren Clarke (11)	32	ASA
4 May	Open de España	Spain	€2,000,000	Peter Lawrie (1)	24
11 May	Methorios Capital Italian Open	Italy	€1,700,000	Hennie Otto (1)	24
18 May	Irish Open	Ireland	€2,500,000	Richard Finch (2)	28
25 May	BMW PGA Championship	England	€4,500,000	Miguel Ángel Jiménez (15)	64		Flagship event
1 Jun	Celtic Manor Wales Open	Wales	£1,800,000	Scott Strange (1)	36
8 Jun	Bank Austria GolfOpen	Austria	€1,300,000	Jeev Milkha Singh (3)	24
15 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$7,500,000	Tiger Woods (n/a)	100		Major championship
15 Jun	Saint-Omer Open	France	€600,000	David Dixon (1)	18	CHA
22 Jun	BMW International Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Martin Kaymer (2)	30
29 Jun	Open de France Alstom	France	€4,000,000	Pablo Larrazábal (1)	38
6 Jul	European Open	England	£2,400,000	Ross Fisher (2)	40
13 Jul	Barclays Scottish Open	Scotland	£3,000,000	Graeme McDowell (4)	50
20 Jul	The Open Championship	England	£4,200,000	Pádraig Harrington (13)	100		Major championship
27 Jul	Inteco Russian Open Golf Championship	Russia	US$2,000,000	Mikael Lundberg (2)	24
3 Aug	WGC-Bridgestone Invitational	United States	US$8,000,000	Vijay Singh (13)	74		World Golf Championship
10 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$7,500,000	Pádraig Harrington (14)	100		Major championship
17 Aug	SAS Masters	Sweden	€1,600,000	Peter Hanson (2)	24
24 Aug	KLM Open	Netherlands	€1,800,000	Darren Clarke (12)	30
31 Aug	Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles	Scotland	£1,400,000	Grégory Havret (3)	32
7 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	€2,000,000	Jean-François Lucquin (1)	24
14 Sep	Mercedes-Benz Championship	Germany	€2,000,000	Robert Karlsson (8)	34		Limited-field event
28 Sep	Quinn Insurance British Masters	England	£1,800,000	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (4)	30
5 Oct	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	US$5,000,000	Robert Karlsson (9)	50		Pro-Am
12 Oct	World Match Play Championship	England	–	Cancelled[3]	–
12 Oct	Madrid Masters	Spain	€1,000,000	Charl Schwartzel (3)	24		New tournament
19 Oct	Portugal Masters	Portugal	€3,000,000	Álvaro Quirós (2)	38
26 Oct	Castelló Masters Costa Azahar	Spain	€2,000,000	Sergio García (7)	38		New tournament
2 Nov	Volvo Masters	Spain	€4,250,000	Søren Kjeldsen (2)	50		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
21 Sep	Ryder Cup	United States	n/a	Team USA	n/a	Team event
30 Nov	Omega Mission Hills World Cup	China	US$5,500,000	Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson	n/a	Team event

Location of tournaments

Location of official tournaments of the 2008 European Tour in Europe. Major Championship Flagship event Tour Championship Regular event

Location of official tournaments of the 2008 European Tour outside Europe. Major Championship World Golf Championship Regular event South Africa United Arab Emirates

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.^[5][6]

Position	Player	Prize money (€)
1	Robert Karlsson	2,732,748
2	Pádraig Harrington	2,459,109
3	Lee Westwood	2,424,642
4	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	2,066,596
5	Graeme McDowell	1,859,346
6	Ross Fisher	1,836,530
7	Henrik Stenson	1,798,617
8	Martin Kaymer	1,794,500
9	Sergio García	1,591,917
10	Søren Kjeldsen	1,440,979

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Pádraig Harrington	[7]
Players' Player of the Year	Pádraig Harrington	[8]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Pablo Larrazábal	[9]

See also

• 2008 in golf
• 2008 European Seniors Tour

Notes

1. A further two tournaments were scheduled but were cancelled.
2. Tiger Woods won three events, but was not a European Tour member.
3. 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.
4. AFR − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour; KOR − Korean Tour.
5. Sunshine Tour unofficial event
6. PGA Tour of Australasia unofficial event
7. Asian Tour unofficial event
8. Sunshine Tour flagship event