English Open

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English Open
Tournament information
Location England
Established 1979
Course(s) St. Mellion
Tour(s) European Tour
Format Stroke play
Prize fund 1,000,000
Month played August
Tournament record score
Aggregate 268 Darren Clarke (1999)
To par −20 (as above)
Final champion
Northern Ireland Darren Clarke

The English Open was a professional golf tournament on the European Tour. In 2009, it was due to be played over the Jack Nicklaus designed Signature Course at the St. Mellion International Resort in Cornwall, after a six-year hiatus, but its return to the schedule had to be postponed for at least two years after developers ran into financial difficulties.[1]

In most countries where golf is played there is a national open, but in England this role was effectively filled by The Open Championship, sometimes referred to as the "British Open". The English Open was founded in 1979 as the Lada English Golf Classic, and was held until 1983 at The Belfry. After a five-year absence, the tournament returned in 1988 as the English Open. The first event was held at Royal Birkdale, before moving back to The Belfry until 1993 when it moved to the Forest of Arden.

Aside from three years at Hanbury Manor, the English Open remained at the Forest of Arden until the tournament was cancelled following the 2002 season as part of long term plans for the European Tour to expand globally, by reducing the number of tournaments held in Europe, especially the United Kingdom. In the tour's first official season in 1972 12 out of 20 events were staged in the UK, but by 2005 this was down to 8 out of 47.

The English Open was due to return to the European Tour schedule in 2009, under a five-year deal, initially as an alternate event to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf's majors.[2] However early in 2009, the revival was postponed until 2011 at the earliest, after developers ran into financial problems, reportedly as a result of the ongoing recession.[1] In March 2011 it was announced that the event had been cancelled due to insufficient sponsorship revenue having been raised by the organisers.[3]

Only two players have won the tournament more than once; Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland with three victories, and England's Mark James with two.

Winners

Year Winner Score
English Open
2009–10 Tournament cancelled[1]
2003–08 No tournament
Compass Group English Open
2002 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (3) 271 (−17)
2001 Australia Peter O'Malley 275 (−13)
2000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (2) 275 (−13)
1999 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke 268 (−20)
National Car Rental English Open
1998 England Lee Westwood 271 (−17)
Alamo English Open
1997 Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson 269 (−19)
1996 Australia Robert Allenby 278 (−10)
Murphy's English Open
1995 Republic of Ireland Philip Walton 274 (−14)PO
1994 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 274 (−14)
1993 Wales Ian Woosnam 269 (−19)
1992 Argentina Vicente Fernández 283 (−5)
NM English Open
1991 England David Gilford 278 (−10)
1990 England Mark James (2) 284 (−4)PO
1989 England Mark James 279 (−9)
English Open
1988 England Howard Clark 279 (−9)
1984–87 No tournament
State Express English Classic
1983 South Africa Hugh Baiocchi 279 (−9)PO
1982 Australia Greg Norman 279 (−13)
1981 Australia Rodger Davis 283 (−5)
Mazda Cars English Classic
1980 Spain Manuel Piñero 286 (−2)
Lada English Golf Classic
1979 Spain Seve Ballesteros 286 (−2)

References

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External links