The German Open was a men's

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 ...

tournament. It was first staged in 1911 when the winner was

Harry Vardon Henry William Vardon (9 May 1870 – 20 March 1937) was a professional golfer from Jersey. He was a member of the Great Triumvirate with John Henry Taylor and James Braid. Vardon won The Open Championship a record six times, and also won the ...

. The following year the champion was another of the

Great Triumvirate In U.S. politics, the Great Triumvirate (known also as the Immortal Trio) refers to a triumvirate of three statesmen who dominated American politics for much of the first half of the 19th century, namely Henry Clay of Kentucky, Daniel Webste ...

of late 19th and early 20th century British golfers,

John Henry Taylor John Henry "J.H." Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf. Taylor is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. He was a significant golf ...

. The tournament was then not played again for over a decade. It was played each year from 1926 to 1939;

Percy Alliss Percy Alliss (8 January 1897 – 31 March 1975) was one of the leading English professional golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, winning many tournaments in Britain and Continental Europe. He was the father of commentator and former golfer Peter Alli ...

won five times in this era, Auguste Boyer four times and Henry Cotton three.

History

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the event was not revived until 1951. It was a

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 ...

event from the tour's first official season in 1972 until 1999. It was played on many different courses around

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 ...

; the last two stagings on the European Tour were at Sporting Club Berlin. It first had a title sponsor in 1978 and there were several different sponsors over the following two decades. In the 1980s and 1990s Germany's greatest 20th century golfer

Bernhard Langer Bernhard Langer (; born 27 August 1957) is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1986, he became the sport's first official number one ran ...

equalled Percy Alliss's record of five wins. In 1999 the prize fund was

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

1,005,982, and despite its national open status the tournament was only the fourth richest European Tour event played in Germany that year, behind 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 ...

, the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe and the

BMW International Open The BMW International Open is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour held in Germany. History Founded in 1989, it was held near BMW's home city of Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the ca ...

. Annually, the lowest scoring amateur at the German Open received the coveted "Haubenreich Trophy", named in honor of the Haubenreich family. The Haubenreich family long-owned a German golf superstore in Stuttgart (Golfenreich), and is recognized for its tremendous contributions to German golf. The family can trace its roots back to a Teutonic Knight named Hans Haubenreich who is credited with orchestrating the Knights' victory over a Hun-related tribe at the Battle of Brestacre. Haubenreich claimed Brestacre for the Knights, and the family has upheld the Brest legacy ever since. Since the

began in 1972, Langer is the only player to win the same event five times, excluding majors and World Golf Championships.

Mark McNulty Mark William McNulty (born 24 March 1953) is a Zimbabwean-Irish professional golfer. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and featured in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for ...

won the German Open four times; Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and

Miguel Ángel Jiménez Miguel Ángel Jiménez Rodríguez (born 5 January 1964) is a Spanish professional golfer. He has won 21 times on the European Tour and has been a member of two victorious Ryder Cup teams. Early years Born in Málaga in southern Spain, Jiménez ...

won other events four times each.

Winners

Baden-Baden Open Championship of Germany

In 1911 the

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

golf club organised a 72-hole tournament which they called the "Open Championship of Germany". The German Golf Association, of which Baden-Baden was a member, objected to the use of name. Owing to the disagreement the Baden-Baden club withdrew from the German Golf Association. The Championship was played on 18 and 19 August with total prize money of £250.

, with rounds of 69 and 67, had a 6 stroke lead after the first day. Further rounds of 71 and 72 gave him a score of 279 and a 9 stroke victory. Vardon's total was reckoned to be the lowest in a 72-hole competition. All the players agreed that the event was to be considered "the Open Championship of Germany". The event was staged again, on 20 and 21 August 1912, with prize money doubled to 10,000

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

(£500). The German Golf Association again objected to the use of the title but the prize money attracted most of the leading British professionals. In the first round Charles Mayo broke Vardon's course record with a 65 but J.H. Taylor led at the end of the day on 133. On the final day Taylor had rounds of 73 and 73 but was caught by Ted Ray. Ray had lost two balls in his first round of 75 but three excellent rounds brought him into the joint lead. A nine-hole playoff was arranged in the evening which Taylor won with an incredible score of 28 compared to Ray's 34. The prize money was the largest ever given for a tournament in Europe.

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Coverage on the European Tour's official site
{{Former European Tour Events Golf tournaments in Germany Former European Tour events Recurring sporting events established in 1911 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1999 Defunct sports competitions in Germany