PGA European Tour
The PGA European Tour is an organisation
which operates the three leading men’s pro-
fessional golf tours in Europe: the elite
European Tour, the European Seniors Tour
and the developmental Challenge Tour. Its
headquarters are at Wentworth Club in Vir-
ginia Water, Surrey, England. The European
Tour is the primary golf tour in Europe and is
second to the United States-based PGA Tour
in worldwide prestige. The European Tour
was established by the British-based Profes-
sional Golfers’ Association, and responsibility
was transferred to an independent PGA
European Tour organisation in 1984. Most
events on the PGA European Tour’s three
tours are held in Europe, but in recent years
an increasing number have been held in oth-
er parts of the world outside of North
America.
The PGA European Tour is a golfer-con-
trolled organisation whose primary purpose
is to maximise the income of tournament
golfers. It is a company limited by guarantee
and is run by a professional staff but con-
trolled by its playing members via a board of
directors composed of 12 elected past and
present tour players and a tournament com-
mittee of 14 current players. As of 2007, the
chairman of the board is Neil Coles and the
chairman of the tournament committee is
Thomas Bjørn.
The European-based
events
on
the
European Tour are nearly all played in
Western Europe and the most lucrative of
them take place in the United Kingdom, Ire-
land, Germany, France and Spain.
The PGA European Tour also conducts the
Ryder Cup Matches in cooperation with the
PGA of America.
History
Professional golf began in Europe, specific-
ally in Scotland. The first professionals were
clubmakers and greenkeepers who also
taught golf to the wealthy men who could af-
ford to play the game (early handmade equip-
ment was expensive) and played "challenge
matches" against one another for small
purses. The first multi-competitor stroke play
tournament was The Open Championship,
which was introduced in 1860. That year it
was for professionals only, and it attract