Harry Vardon Trophy

History

The award was created in 1937 as the Harry Vardon Memorial Trophy. In its first year the award was presented to the player with the best average in the major stroke play events. Seven events were used: Daily Mail Tournament, Silver King Tournament, Dunlop-Southport Tournament, Southend Tournament, Open Championship, Irish Open and News Chronicle Tournament. Qualifying rounds did not count and a minimum of 18 rounds had to be played. The Dunlop-Metropolitan Tournament with its restricted field was not included and so the last qualifying event was the delayed Southend Tournament. Charles Whitcombe became the first winner with an average of 71.62 for 24 rounds. He had played in 6 of the 7 events (all except the Irish Open) scoring 289, 289, 283, 294, 282 and 282 for a total of 1719. The Irish golfer Paddy Mahon was second with an average of 71.90.

Six events were used in 1938 with a minimum of 16 rounds which had to include The Open Championship. The same events were used as in 1937 with the exception of the Southend Tournament. Henry Cotton won the award with an average of 72.87 having played in 4 of the 6 qualifying events. Reg Whitcombe was second with an average of 73.35 for 20 rounds.

A new system was introduced in 1939. A points system was used with the winner getting 1 point, 2nd place getting 2 points, down to 26 points for finishing outside the top 25. Five events were used with a minimum of 16 rounds which had to include the four rounds of the Open Championship. The Dunlop-Southport Tournament did not take place but otherwise the same tournaments were used as in 1938. Reg Whitcombe won with a score of 27 (7th, 6th, 3rd, 2nd and 9th). Sam King was second on 49 which included 26 points because he had not played in the Irish Open. King had a lower average (72.87) than Whitcombe (73).

In 1946, after World War II, the award was again given to the player with the best average in the major stroke play events. 20 rounds were required and four rounds of the Open were compulsory. Bobby Locke won with an average of 73.16 in 36 rounds. Norman Von Nida won in 1947 with an average of 71.25 in 52 rounds and Charlie Ward won in 1948 averaging 71.29 over 44 rounds.

Before 1980, the Order of Merit had been based on a points system or stroke average, so it was not necessarily headed by the golfer who won the most money. In 1971 Peter Oosterhuis won the Order of Merit and won £9,269. Gary Player was the leading money winner with £11,281 but of that, £8,500 came from winning the 1971 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship.

In 2009, the Order of Merit was replaced by the Race to Dubai, with a bonus pool of US$7.5 million (originally $10 million) distributed among the top 15 players at the end of the season, with the winner taking $1.5 million The reduction in prize money, announced in September 2009, The bonus pool was increased to $5 million in 2014 with the top 15 players earning part of the pool. 2019 saw further changes: in 2018 the top 10 finishers on the Race to Dubai shared the bonus pool of $5 million, but as of 2019 the sum was split between only the leading five finishers. Whoever topped the standings received an additional $2 million compared with the $1.25 million won by Francesco Molinari in 2018. In addition, the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai was cut to the top 50 golfers on the Race to Dubai list, the prize fund was kept at $8 million but the winner's share was increased to $3 million. This was designed to increase interest and player participation in the event.

In November 2021, the Race to Dubai was renamed the DP World Tour Rankings in line with the tour being retitled as the DP World Tour. However, in November 2022, the tour announced that the Rankings would be reverted to the Race to Dubai, starting from the 2023 season.

Winners

Multiple winners

References

References

1. (10 September 1937). "Harry Vardon Memorial Trophy". The Times.
2. (13 September 1937). "Harry Vardon Memorial Trophy". The Times.
3. (1 October 1937). "Harry Vardon Memorial Trophy – C A Whitcombe's fine average". The Times.
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5. (20 August 1938). "The "Vardon" Trophy". The Times.
6. (19 August 1939). "The Harry Vardon Trophy". The Times.
7. (2 September 1939). "The Harry Vardon Trophy – final placings". The Times.
8. (20 September 1946). "Golf – Locke wins Harry Vardon Trophy". The Times.
9. (9 September 1947). "Harry Vardon Trophy – Von Nida's success". The Times.
10. (15 September 1948). "Golf – Harry Vardon Trophy". The Times.
11. (6 November 1971). "Golf - Oosterhuis heads merit list". The Times.
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16. (17 November 2013). "Race to Dubai Extended to 2017". PGA European Tour.
17. (17 March 2014). "New qualifying format for Final Series". ESPN.
18. Carter, Iain. (13 February 2019). "Race to Dubai: Biggest top prize in golf of £2.3m announced by European Tour". BBC Sport.
19. (21 November 2022). "The DP World Tour Rankings to become the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex for the 2023 season". European Tour.