English Open

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)
Current champion
Darren Clarke (Tournament not held since 2002)

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	Darren Clarke	271 (-17)
2001	Peter O'Malley	275 (-13)
2000	Darren Clarke	275 (-13)
1999	Darren Clarke	268 (-20)
National Car Rental English Open
1998	Lee Westwood	271 (-17)
Alamo English Open
1997	Per-Ulrik Johansson	269 (-19)
1996	Robert Allenby	278 (-10)
Murphy's English Open
1995	Philip Walton	274 (-14)PO
1994	Colin Montgomerie	274 (-14)
1993	Ian Woosnam	269 (-19)
1992	Vicente Fernandez	283 (-5)
NM English Open
1991	David Gilford	278 (-10)
1990	Mark James	284 (-4)PO
1989	Mark James	279 (-9)
English Open
1988	Howard Clark	279 (-9)
1984–87	No tournament
State Express English Classic
1983	Hugh Baiocchi	279 (-9)PO
1982	Greg Norman	279 (-13)
1981	Rodger Davis	283 (-5)
Mazda Cars English Classic
1980	Manuel Piñero	286 (-2)
Lada English Golf Classic
1979	Seve Ballesteros	286 (-2)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Crunch delays golf championships". BBC News. January 21, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7842513.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-14. 
2. ^ "The English Open to be Played at St Mellion from 2009". europeantour.com. March 3, 2008. http://www.europeantour.com/default.sps?pagegid=%7B5A258B31%2D8294%2D4C0E%2DB8B9%2DA796F6009E52%7D&newsid=537708. Retrieved 2008-11-06. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "English Open at St Mellion cancelled over lack of funds". BBC Sport. 24 March 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/9434091.stm. Retrieved 2011-03-26. 

External links

• English Open - official site
• Coverage on the European Tour's official site