2008 European Open
In July 2008 the leading male golfers of the PGA European Tour will gather at the K-Club in Ireland for the 30th staging of the illustrious European Open – one of the 51 official money events of the 2008 golfing schedule.
From 3 to 6 July the likes of Padraig Harrington, defending champion Colin Montgomerie, Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera and Retief Goosen will make every effort to subdue the hills and dales of this formidable Irish course.
In doing so they will pocket a substantial amount of prize money – the European Open is one of the leading events on the European Tour, apart from the four Majors and the three World Golf Championships. In 2007 the official purse was £2,400,000!
Founded as late as 1978, the European Open has been contested at various golf courses around England, including Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Sunningdale Golf Club and the East Sussex National. It was only in 1995 that the Open moved to its latest venue in Dublin, the famed K-Club.
Since the year 2000 only two non-British players have lifted the European Open crown – Michael Campbell of New Zealand in 2002 and Retief Goosen of South Africa in 2004. What is interesting, however, is that rising stars of British golf like Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald, have not been successful at the K-Club. This could, in part, be due to the fact that the young guns are concentrating on the richer US-based PGA Tour, or it could simply be that the European Open coincides with another, richer PGA Tour event.
The 2008 European Open will be held at exactly the same time as the $6-million AT & T National to be held at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.
The European Open has, on two occasions, been won by the same golfer in consecutive years – Per-Ulrik Johansson of Sweden in 1996 and 1997 and England’s Lee Westwood in 1999 and 2000. These two players have to be considered the champions of the European Open and we look at them in depth on our European Open Golf Champions page.
As with all sports, the game of golf tests the fitness, skills and mental toughness of each player. Not only does their technique have to be perfect, but they have to overcome some of the most formidable hazards of each course to be victorious.
Why not live the game and place a wager or two on the 2008 European Open? Take a peek at our betting guide and betting tips page, and for more in depth information including European Open odds, we recommend William Hill.
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