- Mercedes-Benz Championship (European Tour)
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Mercedes-Benz Championship Tournament information Location Pulheim, Germany Established 1987 Course(s) Gut Lärchenhof Par 72 Length 7,289 yards Tour(s) European Tour Format Stroke play Prize fund € 2,000,000 Month played September Final year 2009 Tournament record score Aggregate 262 K.J. Choi (2003) To par -26 (as above) Final champion James Kingston The Mercedes-Benz Championship was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament played in Germany and hosted and promoted by Germany's most successful golfer Bernhard Langer and his brother Erwin.
Founded as the German Masters in 1987, the tournament was originally played in Stuttgart, moving to Berlin in 1994, and since 1998 it has been held played at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof in Pulheim near Cologne. The prize fund had climbed to €3 million by 2005, making the German Masters was one of the richer events, outside of the major championships and the three individual World Golf Championships, on the European Tour at that time.
After a one year break in 2006 the tournament returned to the European Tour schedule in 2007, renamed as the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Played as a no-cut event, it had a maximum field of 78, consisting primarily of players who had either won tournaments on the European Tour in 2007 or were in the top 75 of the Official World Golf Rankings or in the top 60 of the European Order of Merit. It was played in mid-September, a slot created by the rescheduling of the HSBC World Match Play Championship to October. However, as it clashed with the PGA Tour's Tour Championship, many leading players were unavailable, and so the prize fund on its return had dropped to €2 million, one third less than it was in 2005.
Winners
Year Winner Score Mercedes-Benz Championship 2009 James Kingston 275 (-13)PO 2008 Robert Karlsson 275 (-13) 2007 Søren Hansen 271 (-17) Linde German Masters 2006 No tournament 2005 Retief Goosen 268 (-20) 2004 Pádraig Harrington 275 (-13) 2003 K.J. Choi 262 (-26) 2002 Stephen Leaney 266 (-22) 2001 Bernhard Langer 266 (-22) 2000 Michael Campbell 197 (-19)* 1999 Sergio García 277 (-11)PO 1998 Colin Montgomerie 266 (-22) 1997 Bernhard Langer 267 (-21) 1996 Darren Clarke 264 (-24) Mercedes German Masters 1995 Anders Forsbrand 264 (-24) 1994 Seve Ballesteros 270 (-18)PO 1993 Steven Richardson 271 (-17) 1992 Barry Lane 272 (-16) 1991 Bernhard Langer 275 (-13)PO 1990 Sam Torrance 272 (-16) German Masters 1989 Bernhard Langer 276 (-12) 1988 José María Olazábal 279 (-9) 1987 Sandy Lyle 278 (-10)PO * - The final round of the 2000 event was cancelled because of bad weather
External links
Categories:- Former European Tour events
- Golf tournaments in Germany
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