English Open

---

title: "English Open" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["former-european-tour-events", "golf-tournaments-in-england", "1988-establishments-in-england", "recurring-sporting-events-established-in-1988"] description: "Professional golf tournament" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Open" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Professional golf tournament ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox golf tournament"]

Field	Value
name	Cazoo Classic
image	Cazoo Classic.png
image_size	200px
location	Southport, Merseyside, England
establishment	1988
course	Hillside Golf Club
par	72
yardage	7109 yd
tour	European Tour
format	Stroke play
purse
month_played	July
final_year	2022
aggregate	268 Darren Clarke (1999)
to-par	−20 as above
final_champion	SCO Richie Ramsay
map	England#United Kingdom Merseyside
map_label	Hillside GC
map_caption	Location in England##Location in Merseyside
map_relief	yes
map_size	200
coordinates
::

::callout[type=note] the golf tournament ::

| name = Cazoo Classic | nickname = | image = Cazoo Classic.png | image_size = 200px | location = Southport, Merseyside, England | establishment = 1988 | course = Hillside Golf Club | par = 72 | yardage = 7109 yd | tour = European Tour | format = Stroke play | purse = | month_played = July | final_year = 2022 | aggregate = 268 Darren Clarke (1999) | to-par = −20 as above | final_champion = SCO Richie Ramsay | map = England#United Kingdom Merseyside | map_label = Hillside GC | map_caption = Location in England##Location in Merseyside | map_relief = yes | map_label_position = | map_size = 200 | coordinates = 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

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

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 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, 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. However early in 2009, due to the impact of the Great Recession, the revival was postponed until 2011 at the earliest. In March 2011 it was announced that the event had been cancelled due to insufficient sponsorship revenue having been raised by the organisers.

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". 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.

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

Winners

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

References

References

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

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::