The 2007 European Tour was the 36th
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
season since the
European Tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...
officially began in 1972.
The season began with six tournaments in late 2006 and consisted of record 52 official money events,
surpassing the
2005 and
2006 seasons. This included the four
major championships and three
World Golf Championships
The World Golf Championships (WGC) are a group of annual professional golf tournaments created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing four ...
, which were also sanctioned by the
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
. 29 events took place in Europe, 12 in Asia, six in the United States, three in South Africa, one in Australia and one in New Zealand. The PGA Tour's introduction of the
FedEx Cup
The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. T ...
prompted the European Tour to extend the season into November and several tournaments moved away from their traditional dates.
The Order of Merit race came down to the closing holes of the final tournament, and was won by
Justin Rose
Justin Peter Rose, (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays most of his golf on the PGA Tour, while keeping his membership on the European Tour. He won his first major championship at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf ...
for the first time despite the Englishman playing the majority of his golf in America. Rose overtook
Ernie Els
Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands ) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victor ...
and held off the challenge of the defending Order of Merit champion
Pádraig Harrington
Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Champi ...
. The Player of the Year award was given to Harrington after his victories at
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
and the
Irish Open. The
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...
was
Martin Kaymer
Martin Kaymer ( ; born 28 December 1984) is a German professional golfer. A winner of two major championships, he was also the No. 1 ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking for eight weeks in 2011.
Kaymer achieved his first major vict ...
of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Major tournaments
For a summary of the major tournaments and events of 2007, including the
major championships and the
World Golf Championships
The World Golf Championships (WGC) are a group of annual professional golf tournaments created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing four ...
, see
2007 in golf.
Changes for 2007
There were three new tournaments, the
Joburg Open
The Joburg Open is a men's professional golf tournament that is held in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is an event on the Southern Africa-based Sunshine Tour and co-sanctioned by the European Tour, which attracts a larger prize fund and stronger ...
in South Africa, the
Open de Andalucía
The Open de Andalucia was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament which was played from 2007 to 2012. The event was held in the Andalusia region of Spain.
History
Between 1992 and 1995, and again in 1999, former European Tour event, t ...
in Spain and the
Portugal Masters
The Portugal Masters was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament which was played for the first time in October 2007. It had a prize fund is US$2 million, making it one of the richest golf tournaments in Portugal. It was jointly staged b ...
.
[ In addition, the long-established ]Australian Masters
The Australian Masters was an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia held in Victoria, Australia from 1979 to 2015.
History
In 1989 the International Management Group took control of the management of the tournament.
Though the ...
joined the tour schedule and two tournaments returned after missing the 2006 season; the New Zealand Open
The New Zealand Open is the premier men's golf tournament in New Zealand. It has been a regular fixture on the PGA Tour of Australasia tournament schedule since the 1970s. The 2019 event was the 100th edition of the tournament. Since 2014 it has ...
skipped a season due to date changes, and the German Masters
The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, h ...
having not been held in 2006, came back with a new sponsor and was re-titled as the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 2007 season.
Unofficial events
The following events were sanctioned by the European Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s.
Awards
See also
* 2007 in golf
*2007 Challenge Tour
The 2007 Challenge Tour was the 19th season of the Challenge Tour, the official development tour to the European Tour. The tour started as the Satellite Tour with its first Order of Merit rankings in 1989 and was officially renamed as the Challeng ...
* 2007 European Seniors Tour
* 2007 PGA Tour
* List of golfers with most European Tour wins
Notes
References
External links
2007 season results on the PGA European Tour website
{{European Tour Seasons
European Tour seasons
European Tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...