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1988 European Tour

Golf tour season

Field	Value
year	1988
tour	European Tour
regular_season	–
no_of_events	30
most_wins	ESP Seve Ballesteros (5)
honor1	Order of Merit
honoree1	ESP Seve Ballesteros
honor2	Golfer of the Year
honoree2	ESP Seve Ballesteros
honor3	Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year
honoree3	SCO Colin Montgomerie
prevseason	1987
nextseason	1989

The 1988 European Tour, titled as the 1988 Volvo Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Volvo title sponsorship

In May 1987, it was announced that the tour had signed a title sponsorship agreement with Volvo, being renamed as the Volvo Tour. The agreement was reported to be worth over five years.

Changes for 1988

The season was made up of 30 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events".

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Open de Baleares, the Biarritz Open, the English Open and the Volvo Masters; the return of the Torras Hostench Barcelona Open, which had been cancelled due to bad weather in 1987; and the loss of the Lawrence Batley International. The Moroccan Open, originally scheduled to open the season, was initially postponed until October but ultimately cancelled.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1988 season.

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse
(£)	Winner	OWGR
points	Notes
13 Mar	Mallorca Open de Baleares	Spain	200,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (35)	20	New tournament
20 Mar	Torras Hostench Barcelona Open	Spain	200,000	ENG David Whelan (1)	18
3 Apr	AGF Biarritz Open	France	150,000	WAL David Llewellyn (1)	16	New tournament
10 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$1,000,000	SCO Sandy Lyle (14)	100	Major championship
17 Apr	Cannes Open	France	200,000	ZWE Mark McNulty (7)	20
24 Apr	Cepsa Madrid Open	Spain	200,000	ENG Derrick Cooper (1)	22
1 May	Portuguese Open	Portugal	200,000	AUS Mike Harwood (1)	18
8 May	Epson Grand Prix of Europe Matchplay Championship	Wales	275,000	FRG Bernhard Langer (19)	40	Limited-field event
15 May	Peugeot Spanish Open	Spain	175,000	ENG Mark James (9)	38
22 May	Lancia Italian Open	Italy	225,000	AUS Greg Norman (12)	24
30 May	Volvo PGA Championship	England	300,000	WAL Ian Woosnam (9)	44
5 Jun	Dunhill British Masters	England	250,000	SCO Sandy Lyle (15)	42
12 Jun	Wang Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity	England	200,000	AUS Rodger Davis (3)	20	Pro-Am
19 Jun	Volvo Belgian Open	Belgium	200,000	ESP José María Olazábal (3)	16
19 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$1,000,000	USA Curtis Strange (n/a)	100	Major championship
26 Jun	Peugeot Open de France	France	275,000	ENG Nick Faldo (14)	40
2 Jul	Monte Carlo Open	France	200,000	ESP José Rivero (3)	24
9 Jul	Bell's Scottish Open	Scotland	250,000	ENG Barry Lane (1)	44
17 Jul	The Open Championship	England	500,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (36)	100	Major championship
24 Jul	KLM Dutch Open	Netherlands	250,000	WAL Mark Mouland (2)	34
31 Jul	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	250,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (37)	34
7 Aug	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	250,000	ENG Peter Baker (1)	38
14 Aug	PLM Open	Sweden	200,000	NZL Frank Nobilo (1)	16
14 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$1,000,000	USA Jeff Sluman (n/a)	100	Major championship
21 Aug	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	225,000	WAL Ian Woosnam (10)	42
28 Aug	German Open	West Germany	275,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (38)	38
4 Sep	Ebel European Masters Swiss Open	Switzerland	400,000	ENG Chris Moody (1)	44
11 Sep	Panasonic European Open	England	300,000	WAL Ian Woosnam (11)	42
18 Sep	Trophée Lancôme	France	400,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (39)	46	Limited-field event
25 Sep	German Masters	West Germany	300,000	ESP José María Olazábal (4)	44
2 Oct	English Open	England	175,000	ENG Howard Clark (11)	16	New tournament
9 Oct
6 Mar	Moroccan Open	Morocco	–	Cancelled	–
23 Oct	BNP Jersey Open	Jersey	125,000	IRL Des Smyth (6)	16
30 Oct	Volvo Masters	Spain	350,000	ENG Nick Faldo (15)	44	New tournament
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
10 Oct	Suntory World Match Play Championship	England	275,000	SCO Sandy Lyle	32	Limited-field event
16 Oct	Dunhill Cup	Scotland	US$1,000,000	ENG Team England	n/a	Team event
18 Oct	Equity & Law Challenge	England	125,000	NIR Ronan Rafferty	n/a
27 Oct	UAP European Under-25 Championship	France	n/a	FRA Jean van de Velde	n/a
6 Nov	Europcar Cup	France	n/a	SWE Team Sweden	n/a	Team event
13 Nov	Benson & Hedges Trophy	Spain	200,000	ZWE Mark McNulty and
FRA Marie-Laure Taya	n/a	Team event
11 Dec	World Cup	Australia	US$750,000	USA Ben Crenshaw and
USA Mark McCumber	n/a	Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy	USA Ben Crenshaw	n/a
18 Dec	Kirin Cup	United States	US$1,000,000	USA Team USA	n/a	Team 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	ESP Seve Ballesteros	451,560
2	ENG Nick Faldo	347,971
3	ESP José María Olazábal	285,964
4	WAL Ian Woosnam	234,991
5	SCO Sandy Lyle	186,018
6	ZIM Mark McNulty	180,992
7	IRL Des Smyth	171,951
8	ENG Mark James	152,900
9	NIR Ronan Rafferty	132,395
10	ESP José Rivero	131,079

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	ESP Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	SCO Colin Montgomerie

Notes

References

White, Graeme. (26 May 1987). "Volvo boost for Euro golf". Black Country Evening Mail.
Williams, Michael. (26 May 1987). "PGA Tour in £10m Volvo deal". The Daily Telegraph.
Platts, Mitchell. (1 December 1987). "Shooting for £10m in the rosy tour garden of Europe". The Times.
Davies, David. (1 December 1987). "Rich pickings for Europe's Volvo drivers". The Guardian.
(26 January 1988). "At last! English get their own Open". Irish Independent.
(12 September 1988). "Sport in brief {{!}} Open closed". The Times.
"1988 Tournament schedule". European Tour.
(2 November 1988). "Golf {{!}} European Order of Merit". Birmingham Metronews.
Moseley, Ron. (1 November 1988). "Europeans on top of the world". Huddersfield Daily Examiner.
Laidlaw, Renton. (20 December 1988). "Seve wins another award". Evening Standard.
(14 November 1988). "Colin named top 'Rookie'". Evening Sentinel.

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