Golf tour season
The2003 European Tour was the 32nd season of theEuropean Tour , the mainprofessional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
There were four new tournaments to the European Tour in 2003, theNordic Open [ 1] and three dual-ranking events, theAa St Omer Open ,BMW Russian Open andMallorca Classic . Lost from the tour schedule were theEnglish Open ,Great North Open and the dual-rankingNorth West of Ireland Open .[ 2]
The following table lists official events during the 2003 season.[ 3]
Date Tournament Host country Purse Winner[ a] OWGR pointsOther tours[ b] Notes 24 Nov BMW Asian Open Taiwan US$1,500,000 Pádraig Harrington (6)16 ASA 1 Dec Omega Hong Kong Open Hong Kong US$700,000 Freddie Jacobson (1)16 ASA 12 Jan South African Airways Open South Africa £500,000 Trevor Immelman (1)32 AFR [ c] 19 Jan Dunhill Championship South Africa £500,000 Mark Foster (1)18 AFR 26 Jan Caltex Masters Singapore US$900,000 Zhang Lianwei (1)20 ASA 2 Feb Heineken Classic Australia A$2,000,000 Ernie Els (12)30 ANZ 9 Feb ANZ Championship Australia A$1,750,000 Paul Casey (2)30 ANZ 16 Feb Johnnie Walker Classic Australia £1,000,000 Ernie Els (13)44 ANZ ,ASA 23 Feb Carlsberg Malaysian Open Malaysia US$1,100,000 Arjun Atwal (2)20 ASA 2 Mar WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship United States US$6,000,000 Tiger Woods (n/a)76 World Golf Championship 9 Mar Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$2,000,000 Robert-Jan Derksen (1)30 16 Mar Qatar Masters Qatar US$1,500,000 Darren Fichardt (2)24 23 Mar Madeira Island Open Portugal €600,000 Bradley Dredge (1)24 CHA 13 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$6,000,000 Mike Weir (n/a)100 Major championship 20 Apr Algarve Open de Portugal Portugal €1,250,000 Freddie Jacobson (2)24 27 Apr Canarias Open de España Spain €1,750,000 Kenneth Ferrie (1)24 4 May Italian Open Telecom Italia Italy €1,100,000 Mathias Grönberg (4)24 11 May Benson & Hedges International Open England £1,100,000 Paul Casey (3)42 18 May Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe Germany €2,700,000 Pádraig Harrington (7)48 25 May Volvo PGA Championship England €3,500,000 Ignacio Garrido (2)64 Flagship event 1 Jun Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open Wales £1,500,000 Ian Poulter (4)24 8 Jun Daily Telegraph Damovo British Masters England £1,500,000 Greg Owen (1)24 15 Jun Aa St Omer Open France €400,000 Brett Rumford (1)16 CHA New to European Tour 15 Jun U.S. Open United States US$6,000,000 Jim Furyk (n/a)100 Major championship 22 Jun Diageo Championship at Gleneagles Scotland £1,200,000 Søren Kjeldsen (1)24 29 Jun Open de France France €2,500,000 Philip Golding (1)24 6 Jul Smurfit European Open Ireland £2,000,000 Phillip Price (3)44 13 Jul Barclays Scottish Open Scotland £2,200,000 Ernie Els (14)50 20 Jul The Open Championship England £3,900,000 Ben Curtis (1)100 Major championship 27 Jul Nissan Irish Open Ireland €1,800,000 Michael Campbell (6)24 3 Aug Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters Sweden €1,900,000 Adam Scott (4)24 10 Aug Nordic Open Denmark €1,600,000 Ian Poulter (5)24 New tournament 17 Aug BMW Russian Open Russia €400,000 Marcus Fraser (1)16 CHA New to European Tour 17 Aug PGA Championship United States US$6,000,000 Shaun Micheel (n/a)100 Major championship 24 Aug WGC-NEC Invitational United States US$6,000,000 Darren Clarke (10)78 World Golf Championship 31 Aug BMW International Open Germany €1,800,000 Lee Westwood (15)30 7 Sep Omega European Masters Switzerland €1,600,000 Ernie Els (15)30 14 Sep Trophée Lancôme France €1,800,000 Retief Goosen (9)26 21 Sep Linde German Masters Germany €3,000,000 K. J. Choi (n/a)48 28 Sep Dunhill Links Championship Scotland US$5,000,000 Lee Westwood (16)52 Pro-Am 5 Oct WGC-American Express Championship United States US$6,000,000 Tiger Woods (n/a)76 World Golf Championship 12 Oct Dutch Open Netherlands €1,000,000 Maarten Lafeber (1)24 19 Oct Turespaña Mallorca Classic Spain €400,000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez (7)16 CHA New tournament 26 Oct Telefónica Open de Madrid Spain €1,400,000 Ricardo González (2)30 2 Nov Volvo Masters Andalucía Spain US$4,000,000 Freddie Jacobson (3)46 Tour Championship
The following events were sanctioned by the European Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
TheOrder of Merit was titled as theVolvo Order of Merit and was based on prize money won during the season, calculated inEuros .[ 4] [ 5]
Position Player Prize money (€ ) 1 Ernie Els 2,975,374 2 Darren Clarke 2,210,051 3 Pádraig Harrington 1,555,623 4 Freddie Jacobson 1,521,303 5 Ian Poulter 1,500,855 6 Paul Casey 1,360,456 7 Lee Westwood 1,330,713 8 Thomas Bjørn 1,327,148 9 Brian Davis 1,245,513 10 Phillip Price 1,234,018
^ 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-basedmajor championships which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998, with earlier editions having retrospectively been recognised as official tour wins. ^ AFR −Sunshine Tour ; ANZ −PGA Tour of Australasia ; ASA −Asian PGA Tour ; CHA −Challenge Tour . ^ Sunshine Tour flagship event