When the venerable John Jacobs decided in 1971 to broaden the horizons of tournament golf not even he could have imagined the breathtaking appeal it would achieve because of such prescience. What the then Director-General assumed would be a unification and creation of European events to form a co-ordinated circuit has since grown into a global structure that has transformed the face of golf.
It now touches 24 countries annually from Australia to the United States and inspires interest and enthusiasm wherever it performs to such an extent that golfers of international class are now beginning to emerge from nations which hitherto held no perceived pedigree within the sport. There is almost a missionary zeal to this pilgrimage which knows no limits and seeks new opportunities with every year that passes.
The fruits of such activity are self-evident, none more so than during the the season which has launched the new Millennium and underlined the consistent rite of succession by which the European Tour International Schedule gathers strength and endures through its brightest stars. The sheer openness for the battle to top the 2000 Volvo Order of Merit, held by Colin Montgomerie for an unprecedented seven years, illustrates that point.
First, New Zealander Michael Campbell made the running until Ulsterman Darren Clarke took control for 2l weeks following his WGC-Andersen Consulting World Match Play triumph over Tiger Woods at La Costa and Spa in Carlsbad, California. Then the mighty South African Ernie Els grabbed the helm briefly only to be nudged gently aside by Lee Westwood, who himself was then displaced by Clarke in the full knowledge that this precious prize would not be decided until the very last event particularly with Thomas Björn and Montgomerie still within reach
That, indeed, was the case with Westwood passing Clarke on the final day of the 2000 season to finish Number One ahead of his friend and rival.
Other evidence of the progressive health of the European Tour International Schedule could be found in the procession of 13 first-time winners who made up an eventual cast of champions from 17 countries that included Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Fiji, Holland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and United States.
Moreover those newcomers to the winners’s circle were not all fresh-faced recruits in the first flush of their careers because Roger Chapman, at the age of 40, offered inarguable proof that it is never too late to become a champion. It had taken him nineteen years including a re-visit to the European Tour Qualifying School for him to score his first victory as he captured the Brazil Rio de Janeiro 500 Years Open at Itanhangá. Nor was he the only seasoned campaigner to have both patience and persistence rewarded. Jamie Spence, aged 37, ended an eight-year wait since his last win to earn the Moroccan Open Méditel at Golf D’Amelkis in Marrakech and Josè Coceres, 36, from Argentina, scored his second victory in six years with the Dubai Desert Classic at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club.
In a sense their personal triumphs serve to show that not all the enthralling drama takes place solely among the top of the bill performers, but that every success contains its own saga of effort and self-belief. Gary Orr for example had been a consistent campaigner for the past decade without ever topping a finishing list. Yet, at the age of 32, the Scottish professional’s outlook and prospects changed when he eagled the last hole at Le Meridien Penina to win the Algarve Portuguese Open and then took the Victor Chandler British Masters later in the season at Woburn.
Niclas Fasth, from Sweden, made in 1999 his fourth visit to the Tour School, before finding the confidence to become a first time winner and Madeira Island Open champion at Santo da Serra. Rolf Muntz made an additional piece of history when he became the first Dutch professional to win a Tour event as he took the Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club.
Curiously enough the list of first-time winners for 2000 was launched by New Zealand’s Michael Campbell who, although being a major figure on Tour for several seasons, had never quite clinched a title until the Johnnie Walker Classic at The Westin Resort Ta Shee in Taiwan then made up for lost time by taking the Heineken Classic at The Vines Resort in Perth and the Linde German Masters at Gut Lärchenhof in Cologne. Anthony Wall from Sunningdale, playing in his fourth full season on Tour, became a new winner with a cool-headed performance in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Houghton Golf Club in Johannesburg .
Other new faces included Taiwan’s Yeh Wei-tze (Benson and Hedges Malaysian Open in Templer Park Golf and Country Club, Kuala Lumpur), Australia’s Lucas Parsons (Greg Norman Holden International at the Lakes Golf Club in Sydney), Englishman Brian Davis (Peugeot Open de España at PGA Golf de Catalunya in Girona), Denmark’s Steen Tinning (The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport), Italy’s Massimo Scarpa (Buzzgolf.com North West of Ireland Open at the Slieve Russell Hotel Golf and Country Club, in County Cavan), England’s Ian Poulter (Italian Open at Is Molas, Sardinia) and Canada’s Mike Weir (WGC-American Express Championshp at Club de Golf, Valderrama).
For sheer heroic resilience Irishman Padraig Harrington’s victory in the Brazil Sao Paulo 500 Years Open at Sao Paulo Golf Club stands as a shining example to others because only a week earlier he had lost a play-off to Roger Chapman yet still summoned the tenacity to keep on trying. Moreover, he was to earn admiration and praise from the world of sport in general for the dignified manner in which he accepted disqualification when leading the Benson and Hedges International Open at The De Vere Belfry later in the season following a scorecard mix-up. Even so, his ill fortune took nothing away from the brilliant efforts of José Maria Olazábal, the eventual winner, who scored a last round 66 to take the title for the second time in his career, and, happily, Harrington returned to the winner’s podium at the BBVA Open Turespaña Masters Comunidad de Madrid later in the season at Club de Campo in Madrid.
One key aspect of The European Tour International Schedule’s prestige is the manner in which its key figures perform in all arenas, particularly the major championships which were dominated in 2000 by the phenomenal exploits of Tiger Woods, who not only completed the Grand Slam of four major titles but also captured three of them - the US Open (Pebble Beach), the Open Championship (St Andrews) and the US PGA Championship (Valhalla) to become the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to accomplish the feat.
The only major championship to elude him was the Masters Tournament at Augusta National which went to Fiji’s Vijay Singh, who honed his craft on the European Tour and continues to return for regular appearances throughout the season. But it was the additional strength of European Tour presence in all these Championships that again underlined its importance on the world stage.
Els, besides winning the Standard Life Loch Lomond title, struck superb if frustrating consistency by finishing runner-up in the Masters Tournament, the US Open and the Open Championship. Björn shared second place with him at St Andrews then went on to finish third in the US PGA Championship - as well as winning the BMW International Open at Golfclub Munchen Nord-Eichenried. Miguel Angel Jiménez also maintained a defiant presence in the US Open with a share of second place as Harrington finished joint fifth with Westwood and Nick Faldo made a welcome return in seventh place.
The collective impact of the European Tour International Schedule players was equally apparent in the US PGA Championship at Valhalla with American Bob May, the 1999 Victor Chandler British Masters winner, finishing second with Björn third, Olazábal fourth and Clarke ninth. Moreover Welsh professional Phillip Price went on to share second place in the WGC-NEC Invitational at Akron, Ohio, behind - guess who? - Woods.
Of course, Clarke had shown early evidence of the European Factor when he scored that decisive 4 and 3 victory over Woods in California and was to regain that winning touch later in the season when he successfully defended The Compass Group English Open at the Marriott Forest of Arden Hotel in Warwickshire. Clarke belongs to that select group of campaigners who can erupt without warning into commanding action and therefore can never be counted out. Among that number is Sweden’s Mathias Grönberg, who triumphed in the Mercedes-Benz - SA Open Championship at Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg, fellow countryman Pierre Fulke who became Scottish PGA champion at the Gleneagles Hotel, then took his game to a new level by winning the Volvo Masters, Argentina’s Eduardo Romero (Canon European Masters in Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland), South Africa’s Retief Goosen (Trophée Lancôme at St-Nom-La-Bretèche near Paris) Sweden’s Patrik Sjöland (Murphy’s Irish Open at Ballybunion) and Australia’s Stephen Leaney (TNT Dutch Open at the Noordwijkse Golf Club).
It is somewhat ironic that the most successful season so far in the remarkable career of Westwood should have started on such a low note that verged on despair as the Tour was reaching the halfway mark and he languished in 33rd position in the Volvo Order of Merit. He confessed to not knowing what was wrong with his game but hoped that just a couple of good rounds might put things right.
Sure enough, they came during the Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe, at Gut Kaden in Hamburg, which not only earned him the title but in which he overtook defending champion Woods in the process. Indeed the familiar battle lines looked to have been drawn a week later when Montgomerie sprang into action with his third successive victory in the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth Club to accompany his earlier win in the Novotel Perrier Open de France at the Le Golf National in Paris and thus move into a menacing position for the defence of his Volvo Order of Merit title.
What happened next was quite astounding as Westwood embarked on a phenomenal winning streak by taking the Compaq European Grand Prix at De Vere Slaley Hall in Northumberland, the Smurfit European Open at The K Club, near Dublin, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters at Kungsängen in Stockholm, the Belgacom Open at Royal Zoute in Belgium and the Cisco World Match Play Championship title at the 38th hole of a rain-delayed final in which defending champion Montgomerie was his victim.
In the inevitable ebb and flow of fortune that is part of every player’s season, there were other moments to savour too - Miguel Angel Martin linking with Jiménez and Olazábal in Spain’s successful defence of the Alfred Dunhill Cup and Seve Ballesteros leading his Continental Europe team to a thrilling 131/2 to 121/2 victory over Great Britain and Ireland in the inaugural Eurobet Seve Ballesteros Trophy at Sunningdale.
The inspiring Spaniard scored a 2 and 1 win over Montgomerie in the last day singles while Bernhard Langer played his part with a 4 and 3 triumph over fellow former Masters Tournament champion Ian Woosnam, and Sergio Garcia birdied the last two holes to snatch a half-point from Clarke. It offered more evidence of the rich and varied feast of golf in all its forms that now challenges the entire ensemble on the European Tour International Schedule and pushes them to beyond limits they never knew existed. Come to think of it, that canny John Jacobs knew what he was doing all those years ago.
Michael McDonnell
This is just one chapter in the millennium edition of the European Tour Yearbook capturing all the great moments of golf in the year 2000 as recorded by the game's leading writers and photographers.
First published in 1988 this full colour, hardback limited edition has 368 lavishly illustrated paged capturing the many pivotal moments that transcended a year of great theatre when Tiger Woods moved centre-stage in the summer season and Lee Westwood finished Number One in the 2000 Volvo Order of Merit.
The 2001 European Tour Yearbook is available to website viewers at the special price of £19.95 (UK & Europe) including postage and packaging and £29.95 (Overseas) including postage and packaging.
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European Tour Yearbook 2001
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