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English Open

Coordinates: 52°27′36″N 1°39′25″W / 52.460°N 1.657°W / 52.460; -1.657
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(Redirected from Murphy's English Open)

Cazoo Classic
Tournament information
LocationSouthport, Merseyside, England
Established1988
Course(s)Hillside Golf Club
Par72
Length7,109 yards (6,500 m)
Tour(s)European Tour
FormatStroke play
Prize fund1,750,000
Month playedJuly
Final year2022
Tournament record score
Aggregate268 Darren Clarke (1999)
To par−20 as above
Final champion
Scotland Richie Ramsay
Location map
Hillside GC is located in England
Hillside GC
Hillside GC
Location in England
Hillside GC is located in Merseyside
Hillside GC
Hillside GC
Location in Merseyside

The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 2021, when it was titled as the Cazoo Classic.

Winners of the tournament include some of the most successful players in European Tour history including Mark James, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke. James and Clarke are the only two players to have won the title more than once.

History

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The English Open was founded in 1988, replacing the Lawrence Batley International on the tour schedule,[1] and despite initial sponsorship issues, there were hopes that the new English Open would develop into another major national open on the circuit.[2]

After the first event, which was held at Royal Birkdale, the Brabazon course at The Belfry was home to the tournament until 1993, when it moved to the Forest of Arden. It was then played at Hanbury Manor between 1997 and 1999, before returning to the Forest of Arden[3] 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; by 1988 the ratio was 11 to 15,[4] but by 2005 this was down to 8 out of 47.

After a six-year hiatus the English Open was due to return to the European Tour schedule in 2009. A five-year deal with the tour had been agreed, with the tournament being played over the Jack Nicklaus designed Signature Course at the St. Mellion International Resort in Cornwall, initially an alternate event to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf's majors.[5] However early in 2009, due to the impact of the Great Recession, the revival was postponed until 2011 at the earliest.[6] In March 2011 it was announced that the event had been cancelled due to insufficient sponsorship revenue having been raised by the organisers.[7]

The tournament was due to return in 2020 as part of a revamp of the European Tour's schedule in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was played at Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club as part of a 6-week "UK Swing".[8] When Hero MotoCorp agreed to sponsor of the scheduled event in July 2020, it was renamed as the Hero Open, and later separated historically from the English Open.[9]

The English Open did return in 2021, however a sponsorship agreement with Cazoo saw the tournament renamed as the Cazoo Classic.[10] Cazoo's multi-year partnership with the tour also included title sponsorship of the Wales Open.[11]

Winners

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Year Winner Score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up Venue
Cazoo Classic
2022 Scotland Richie Ramsay 274 −14 1 stroke England Paul Waring Hillside
2021 Scotland Calum Hill 272 −16 1 stroke France Alexander Lévy London
English Open
2010–2020: No tournament
2009 Cancelled due to lack of funding
2003–2008: No tournament
Compass Group English Open
2002 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (3) 271 −17 3 strokes Denmark Søren Hansen Forest of Arden
2001 Australia Peter O'Malley 275 −13 1 stroke France Raphaël Jacquelin Forest of Arden
2000 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke (2) 275 −13 1 stroke New Zealand Michael Campbell
England Mark James
Forest of Arden
1999 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke 268 −20 2 strokes England John Bickerton Hanbury Manor
National Car Rental English Open
1998 England Lee Westwood 271 −17 2 strokes Australia Greg Chalmers
Sweden Olle Karlsson
Hanbury Manor
Alamo English Open
1997 Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson 269 −19 2 strokes Sweden Dennis Edlund Hanbury Manor
1996 Australia Robert Allenby 278 −10 1 stroke England Ross McFarlane
Scotland Colin Montgomerie
Forest of Arden
Murphy's English Open
1995 Republic of Ireland Philip Walton 274 −14 Playoff Scotland Colin Montgomerie Forest of Arden
1994 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 274 −14 1 stroke England Barry Lane Forest of Arden
1993 Wales Ian Woosnam 269 −19 2 strokes Italy Costantino Rocca The Belfry
1992 Argentina Vicente Fernández 283 −5 1 stroke Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson
Sweden Fredrik Lindgren
The Belfry
NM English Open
1991 England David Gilford 278 −10 2 strokes England Roger Chapman The Belfry
1990 England Mark James (2) 284 −4 Playoff Scotland Sam Torrance The Belfry
1989 England Mark James 279 −9 1 stroke Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy
Australia Craig Parry
Scotland Sam Torrance
The Belfry
English Open
1988 England Howard Clark 279 −9 3 strokes England Peter Baker Royal Birkdale

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "At last! English get their own Open". Irish Independent. 26 January 1988. p. 15. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "Promoters to the rescue of English Open". The Times. 28 July 1988. p. 41. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  3. ^ "English Open History". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  4. ^ Platts, Mitchell (29 September 1988). "English Open gets under way without Europe's leading six". The Times. p. 42. Retrieved 25 May 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. ^ "The English Open to be Played at St Mellion from 2009". PGA European Tour. 19 March 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
  6. ^ "Crunch delays golf championships". BBC News. 21 January 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  7. ^ "English Open at St Mellion cancelled over lack of funds". BBC Sport. 24 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  8. ^ "European Tour announces resumption of 2020 season". PGA European Tour. 28 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Hero MotoCorp announced as the Title Partner of Hero Open". PGA European Tour. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  10. ^ Plummer, Barry (9 August 2021). "NCG form expert Barry Plummer picks out three players to challenge for the Cazoo Classic..." National Club Golfer. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  11. ^ Jackson, Keith (8 June 2021). "European Tour announces multi-year sponsorship deal with Cazoo". Sky Sports. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
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