PGA European Tour

The PGA European Tour, much more commonly referred to simply as the European Tour, is a top-level men's professional golf tour. Its headquarters are at Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England. It is the primary golf tour in Europe and is second to the U.S. based PGA TOUR in worldwide prestige. The European Tour was established by the British based Professional Golfers' Association, but became independent of its parent in 1984. It is completely separate from the PGA TOUR and the PGA of America. Its tournaments are mostly held in Europe, but in recent years, it has expanded to other parts of the world outside of North America. The European based events are nearly all played in Western Europe and the most lucrative of them take place in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. Only one of the events held in Europe takes place east of the former Iron Curtain.

Order of Merit winners

The European Tour's money list is known as the "Order of Merit". It is calculated in Euros, although some of the events have prize funds which are fixed in British Pounds or U.S. Dollars. In these instances the amounts are converted into Euros at the exchange rate for the week that the tournament is played.

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YearOrder of Merit leaderCountryEarnings (?)

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2004Ernie ElsSouth Africa4,061,904

Related Topics:
Ernie Els - South Africa

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2003Ernie ElsSouth Africa2,975,374

Related Topics:
Ernie Els - South Africa

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2002Retief GoosenSouth Africa2,360,127

Related Topics:
Retief Goosen - South Africa

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2001Retief GoosenSouth Africa2,862,806

Related Topics:
Retief Goosen - South Africa

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2000Lee WestwoodEngland3,125,146

Related Topics:
Lee Westwood - England

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1999Colin MontgomerieScotland1,822,880

Related Topics:
Colin Montgomerie - Scotland

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Up to 1998, the Order of Merit was calculated in British Pounds.

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YearOrder of Merit leaderCountryEarnings (£)

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1998Colin MontgomerieScotland993,077

Related Topics:
Colin Montgomerie - Scotland

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1997Colin MontgomerieScotland798,947

Related Topics:
Colin Montgomerie - Scotland

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1996Colin MontgomerieScotland875,146

Related Topics:
Colin Montgomerie - Scotland

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1995Colin MontgomerieScotland835,051

Related Topics:
Colin Montgomerie - Scotland

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1994Colin MontgomerieScotland762,719

Related Topics:
Colin Montgomerie - Scotland

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1993Colin MontgomerieScotland613,682

Related Topics:
Colin Montgomerie - Scotland

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1992Nick FaldoEngland708,522

Related Topics:
Nick Faldo - England

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1991Seve BallesterosSpain545,353

Related Topics:
Seve Ballesteros - Spain

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1990Ian WoosnamWales574,166

Related Topics:
Ian Woosnam - Wales

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1989Ronan RaffertyNorthern Ireland400,311

Related Topics:
Ronan Rafferty - Northern Ireland

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1988Seve BallesterosSpain451,559

Related Topics:
Seve Ballesteros - Spain

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1987Ian WoosnamWales253,717

Related Topics:
Ian Woosnam - Wales

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1986Seve BallesterosSpain242,208

Related Topics:
Seve Ballesteros - Spain

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1985Sandy LyleScotland162,552

Related Topics:
Sandy Lyle - Scotland

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1984Bernhard LangerGermany139,344

Related Topics:
Bernhard Langer - Germany

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1983Nick FaldoEngland119,416

Related Topics:
Nick Faldo - England

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1982Greg NormanAustralia66,405

Related Topics:
Greg Norman - Australia

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1981Bernhard LangerGermany81,036

Related Topics:
Bernhard Langer - Germany

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1980Greg NormanAustralia74,828

Related Topics:
Greg Norman - Australia

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1979Sandy LyleScotland49,232

Related Topics:
Sandy Lyle - Scotland

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1978Seve BallesterosSpain54,348

Related Topics:
Seve Ballesteros - Spain

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1977Seve BallesterosSpain46,435

Related Topics:
Seve Ballesteros - Spain

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1976Seve BallesterosSpain39,503

Related Topics:
Seve Ballesteros - Spain

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1975Dale HayesSouth Africa20,507

Related Topics:
Dale Hayes - South Africa

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1974Peter OosterhuisEngland32,127

Related Topics:
Peter Oosterhuis - England

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1973Tony JacklinEngland24,839

Related Topics:
Tony Jacklin - England

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1972Peter OosterhuisEngland18,525

Related Topics:
Peter Oosterhuis - England

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1971Neil ColesEngland10,479

Related Topics:
Neil Coles - England

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The European Tour officially began in 1972 http://www.europeantour.com/tournaments/fullreport.sps?iTourNo=2004025&id=1102364, but there is an Order of Merit list for 1971 on the Tour's official site and unofficial or semi-official money lists existed before that. For full Order of Merit details for each season from 1971 onwards click here.

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