The 1996 European Tour, titled as the 1996 PGA European Tour, was the 25th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
Changes for 1996
The 1996 season saw co-sanctioning arrangements expand, with the PGA Tour of Australasia's Heineken Classic joining three Southern Africa Tour events on the schedule. The season was ultimately made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".
Other changes from the previous season included the addition of the Heineken Classic, the Dimension Data Pro-Am and the Loch Lomond World Invitational; and the loss of the Turespaña Open De Canaria and the Open de Baleares. Soon after the schedule was announced, a third Southern Africa Tour event was added, the FNB Players Championship.
In January, the Jersey Open was moved onto the European Senior Tour schedule and the Open Mediterrania was replaced by the Catalan Open. In February, a new tournament in Spain, the Oki Pro-Am, was added opposite the Dunhill Cup. In March, the Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge was added to the schedule, taking the dates vacated by the Jersey Open, opposite the U.S. Open.
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 1996 season.
| Date | Tournament | Host country | Purse (£) |
Winner | OWGR points |
Other tours |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan | Johnnie Walker Classic | Singapore | 600,000 | Ian Woosnam (25) | 42 | ANZ | |
| 4 Feb | Heineken Classic | Australia | A$800,000 | Ian Woosnam (26) | 34 | ANZ | New to European Tour |
| 11 Feb | Dimension Data Pro-Am | South Africa | 400,000 | Mark McNulty (13) | 30 | AFR | New Pro-Am tournament |
| 18 Feb | Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship | South Africa | 300,000 | Sven Strüver (1) | 22 | AFR | |
| 25 Feb | FNB Players Championship | South Africa | 400,000 | Wayne Westner (2) | 28 | AFR | New to European Tour |
| Turespaña Open Mediterrania | Spain | – | Cancelled | – | |||
| 3 Mar | Catalan Open | Spain | 300,000 | Paul Lawrie (1) | 20 | ||
| 10 Mar | Moroccan Open | Morocco | 350,000 | Peter Hedblom (1) | 26 | ||
| 17 Mar | Dubai Desert Classic | UAE | US$1,000,000 | Colin Montgomerie (10) | 36 | ||
| 24 Mar | Portuguese Open | Portugal | 350,000 | Wayne Riley (2) | 20 | ||
| 31 Mar | Madeira Island Open | Portugal | 300,000 | Jarmo Sandelin (2) | 20 | ||
| 14 Apr | Masters Tournament | United States | US$2,500,000 | Nick Faldo (30) | 100 | Major championship | |
| 21 Apr | Air France Cannes Open | France | 400,000 | Raymond Russell (1) | 20 | ||
| 28 Apr | Turespaña Masters | Spain | 500,000 | Diego Borrego (1) | 26 | ||
| 5 May | Conte of Florence Italian Open | Italy | 500,000 | Jim Payne (2) | 24 | ||
| 12 May | Peugeot Spanish Open | Spain | 550,000 | Pádraig Harrington (1) | 32 | ||
| 19 May | Benson & Hedges International Open | England | 700,000 | Stephen Ames (2) | 44 | ||
| 27 May | Volvo PGA Championship | England | 1,000,000 | Costantino Rocca (3) | 64 | Flagship event | |
| 2 Jun | Deutsche Bank Open TPC of Europe | Germany | 750,000 | Frank Nobilo (5) | 38 | ||
| 9 Jun | Alamo English Open | England | 650,000 | Robert Allenby (2) | 30 | ||
| Jersey Open | Jersey | – | Cancelled | – | |||
| 16 Jun | Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge | England | 300,000 | Retief Goosen (1) | 20 | New tournament | |
| 16 Jun | U.S. Open | United States | US$2,400,000 | Steve Jones (n/a) | 100 | Major championship | |
| 23 Jun | BMW International Open | Germany | 500,000 | Marc Farry (1) | 20 | ||
| 30 Jun | Peugeot Open de France | France | 600,000 | Robert Allenby (3) | 40 | ||
| 7 Jul | Murphy's Irish Open | Ireland | 750,000 | Colin Montgomerie (11) | 40 | ||
| 13 Jul | Scottish Open | Scotland | 480,000 | Ian Woosnam (27) | 42 | ||
| 21 Jul | The Open Championship | England | 1,500,000 | Tom Lehman (n/a) | 100 | Major championship | |
| 28 Jul | Sun Microsystems Dutch Open | Netherlands | 650,000 | Mark McNulty (14) | 28 | ||
| 4 Aug | Volvo Scandinavian Masters | Sweden | 700,000 | Lee Westwood (1) | 32 | ||
| 11 Aug | Hohe Brücke Open | Austria | 250,000 | Paul McGinley (1) | 20 | ||
| 11 Aug | PGA Championship | United States | US$2,400,000 | Mark Brooks (n/a) | 100 | Major championship | |
| 18 Aug | Chemapol Trophy Czech Open | Czech Republic | 750,000 | Jonathan Lomas (1) | 20 | ||
| 25 Aug | Volvo German Open | Germany | 700,000 | Ian Woosnam (28) | 20 | ||
| 31 Aug | One 2 One British Masters | England | 700,000 | Robert Allenby (4) | 36 | ||
| 8 Sep | Canon European Masters | Switzerland | 750,000 | Colin Montgomerie (12) | 32 | ||
| 15 Sep | Trophée Lancôme | France | 650,000 | Jesper Parnevik (3) | 38 | ||
| 22 Sep | Loch Lomond World Invitational | Scotland | 750,000 | Thomas Bjørn (1) | 40 | ||
| 29 Sep | Smurfit European Open | Ireland | 750,000 | Per-Ulrik Johansson (3) | 38 | ||
| 6 Oct | Linde German Masters | Germany | 650,000 | Darren Clarke (2) | 40 | ||
| 13 Oct | Oki Pro-Am | Spain | 450,000 | Tom Kite (n/a) | 20 | New tournament | |
| 27 Oct | Volvo Masters | Spain | 900,000 | Mark McNulty (15) | 40 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct | Dunhill Cup | Scotland | 1,000,000 | Team USA | n/a | Team event |
| 20 Oct | Toyota World Match Play Championship | England | 650,000 | Ernie Els | 42 | Limited-field event |
| 20 Oct | Open Novotel Perrier | France | n/a | Steven Bottomley and Jonathan Lomas |
n/a | Team event |
| 3 Nov | Subaru Sarazen World Open | United States | US$1,900,000 | Frank Nobilo | 40 | |
| 24 Nov | World Cup of Golf | South Africa | US$1,300,000 | Ernie Els and Wayne Westner |
n/a | Team event |
| World Cup of Golf Individual Trophy | US$200,000 | Ernie Els | n/a | |||
| Johnnie Walker World Golf Championship | Jamaica | – | Cancelled | – | ||
| 5 Jan | Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf | United States | US$3,650,000 | Greg Norman | 58 | Limited-field event |
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.
| Position | Player | Prize money (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colin Montgomerie | 875,146 |
| 2 | Ian Woosnam | 650,423 |
| 3 | Robert Allenby | 532,143 |
| 4 | Costantino Rocca | 482,585 |
| 5 | Mark McNulty | 463,847 |
| 6 | Lee Westwood | 428,693 |
| 7 | Andrew Coltart | 345,936 |
| 8 | Darren Clarke | 329,795 |
| 9 | Paul Broadhurst | 300,364 |
| 10 | Thomas Bjørn | 292,023 |
Awards
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Colin Montgomerie | |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Thomas Bjørn |