2002_European_Tour
2002 European Tour
Golf tour season
The 2002 European Tour was the 31st season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.
| Duration | 22 November 2001 (2001-11-22) – 10 November 2002 (2002-11-10) |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 44 |
| Most wins |  Ernie Els (3)[lower-alpha 1] |
| Order of Merit | Retief Goosen |
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Nick Dougherty |
← 2001 2003 → | |
There were three new tournaments to the European Tour in 2002, the BMW Asian Open in Taiwan, the Omega Hong Kong Open and the ANZ Championship in Australia. The schedule also saw the return of the Open de Canarias, but this was ultimately combined with the Open de España, and the loss of the Greg Norman Holden International, the Moroccan Open, the São Paulo Brazil Open and the Argentine Open.
The following table lists official events during the 2002 season.[1][2]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Apr | Seve Trophy | Ireland | n/a |   Team GB&I | n/a | Team event |
| 29 Sep | Ryder Cup | England | n/a |  Team Europe | n/a | Team event |
| 20 Oct | Cisco World Match Play Championship | England | £1,000,000 | Ernie Els | n/a | Limited-field event |
| 18 Nov | WGC-World Cup | Mexico | US$3,000,000 |  Toshimitsu Izawa and Shigeki Maruyama | n/a | World Golf Championship Team event |
The Order of Merit was titled as the Volvo Order of Merit and was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.[4][5]
| Position | Player | Prize money (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retief Goosen | 2,360,128 |
| 2 | Pádraig Harrington | 2,334,655 |
| 3 | Ernie Els | 2,251,708 |
| 4 |  Colin Montgomerie | 1,980,720 |
| 5 |  Eduardo Romero | 1,811,330 |
| 6 |  Sergio García | 1,488,728 |
| 7 |  Adam Scott | 1,361,776 |
| 8 |  Michael Campbell | 1,325,404 |
| 9 | Justin Rose | 1,323,529 |
| 10 | Paul Lawrie | 1,151,434 |
| Award | Winner | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els | [6] |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Nick Dougherty | [7] |
- Tiger Woods won 4 events, but was not a European Tour member.
- 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-based major 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.
- Langer and Montgomerie remained level after two holes of a sudden-death playoff before darkness forced an end to play; they agreed to share the title instead of returning the following day.[3]
- "2002 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- "Doubts over Dunhill Links future". BBC Sport. 26 October 2001. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- "Montgomerie and Langer share Volvo Masters". RTÉ. 10 November 2002. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- "2002 Order of Merit". European Tour. Archived from the original on 21 September 2004. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- "Goosen reigns again". BBC Sport. 10 November 2002. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- "Els Named European Golfer of Year". Golf Channel. Associated Press. 5 December 2002. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
- "Dougherty is best rookie". The Independent. London, United Kingdom. 13 November 2002. Retrieved 17 October 2023.