Mercedes-Benz Championship (European Tour)

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