2002 European Tour
The 2002 European Tour was the 31st season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.
| Duration | 22 November 2001 – 18 November 2002 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 44 |
| Most wins | 4 – Ernie Els* * Tiger Woods also won 4 events, but was not a European Tour member |
| Order of Merit | Retief Goosen |
| Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els |
| Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the year | Nick Dougherty |
← 2001 2003 → | |
The Order of Merit was won by Retief Goosen, defending the title he won in 2001.
Schedule
The table below shows the 2002 European Tour schedule which was made up of 44 tournaments counting towards the Order of Merit, which included the four major championships and three World Golf Championships, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events" including the Ryder Cup which had been postponed from 2001.[1]
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 numbers in parentheses after the winners' names show the number of official career wins they had on the European Tour up to and including that event. Totals are only shown for members of the European Tour and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998 and have been retrospectively recognised as official tour wins. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.
- Limited field events were not eligible for ranking points between 2000 and 2003.[3]
- 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.
Order of Merit
In 2002, the European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit". It was calculated in euro, although around half of the events had prize funds which were fixed in other currencies, mostly either British pounds or U.S. dollars. In these instances the amounts were converted into euro at the exchange rate for the week that the tournament was played. The top 10 golfers in 2002 were:
| Position | Player | Country | Prize money (€) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retief Goosen |  South Africa | 2,360,128 |
| 2 | Pádraig Harrington |  Ireland | 2,334,655 |
| 3 | Ernie Els | South Africa | 2,251,708 |
| 4 | Colin Montgomerie |  Scotland | 1,980,720 |
| 5 | Eduardo Romero |  Argentina | 1,811,330 |
| 6 | Sergio García |  Spain | 1,488,728 |
| 7 | Adam Scott | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia | 1,361,776 |
| 8 | Michael Campbell |  New Zealand | 1,325,404 |
| 9 | Justin Rose |  England | 1,323,529 |
| 10 | Paul Lawrie | Scotland | 1,151,434 |
Awards
| Award | Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
| European Tour Golfer of the Year | Ernie Els | South Africa |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Nick Dougherty | England |
References
- "Doubts over Dunhill Links future". BBC Sport. 26 October 2001. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- "Events | European Tour | 2002". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- "How the ranking evolved". Official World Golf Ranking. Retrieved 5 May 2020.