Record Prize Money of £1,500,000 (approx 2,465,685 euro) has been confirmed for the millennium edition of the Volvo PGA Championship which will be played on the West Course at Wentworth Club on May 26-29.
Colin Montgomerie will be seeking to win the title for a record third successive time and earn the £250,000 (approx 410,947 euro) first prize.
The £200,000 (approx 328,758 euro) increase over 1999 maintains the upward trend every year since the inaugural Volvo sponsorship of the PGA Championship in 1988. The top cheque is a landmark for the hugely successful Volvo sponsorship of multiple events on the European Tour. Six figure euro cheques will be available for the leading five players. The runners-up cheque will be £166,400 (approx 273,526 euro), third place is worth £93,900 (approx 154,351 euro), fourth £75,000 (approx 123,284 euro) and the fifth placed player will earn £63,600 (104,545 euro).
Ken Schofield, Executive Director of the European Tour, said: "The increase in the prize fund for the 12th successive year, and specifically the decision to increase by £200,000 (approx 328,758 euro) for the millennium edition of the Volvo PGA Championship, again emphasises the superb support Volvo continue to offer the European Tour and its Members.
"Volvo remain the Tour's first and only overall corporate sponsor. Their quality and excellence in every aspect of their business has been invaluable in the development of the European Tour. Volvo have an extended agreement with the Tour through 2002, and in all they have three outstanding tournaments with the Volvo Scandinavian Masters and the Volvo Masters. We sincerely appreciate this support and look forward to another truly outstanding Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth Club in May."
Mel Pyatt, President & Chief Executive Officer of Volvo Event Management, said: "The millennium year will provide additional impetus to all three Volvo-sponsored European Tour events, and we have set the prize money for the Volvo PGA Championship at a level which reflects our desire to acknowledge this special occasion and our continuing support for the Members of the European Tour.
"The enduring success of the Volvo PGA Championship is a reflection of the close partnership between Volvo and the European Tour, which has gone from strength to strength since 1988 and has been built on a mutual long-term strategy of quality and commitment to excellence."
Montgomerie, the winner of a record seven successive Volvo Order of Merit titles, totalled earnings of £416,678 (583,350 euro) in winning each of the last two Volvo PGA Championships and £939,803 (1,315,725 euro) from all Volvo events, including the Volvo Bonus Pool, in 1998 and 1999. "The Volvo PGA Championship is the European Tour's flagship event," Montgomerie said. "It is one trophy I always wanted to win and to win it three times in succession would be very special. The money we are playing for is terrific. It underlines the strength of the European Tour, and just how far we have come."
The 1997 winner, Ian Woosnam, reflected on that success and said: "This is one of the great Championships of the world." Costantino Rocca, who won in 1996, added: "The Volvo PGA Championship is the most important in Europe after the Open Championship."
Nick Faldo was the only player prior to Montgomerie to win the Volvo PGA Championship two years in succession. Faldo has won the title a record four times - Peter Alliss won three times in 1957, 1962 and 1965 and Bernhard Langer was successful in 1987, 1993 and 1995. Since the inception of the special relationship between the European Tour and Volvo in 1988, the total prize fund has grown from £300,000 (420,000 euro) to its new, impressive level of £1,500,000 (approx 2,465,685 euro). Volvo remain the "Official Car" to the European Tour.
