2004 European Tour

The 2004 European Tour was the 33rd golf season since the European Tour officially began in 1972.
Ernie Els won the Order of Merit, defending the title he won in 2003. Despite Els dominance of the European money-list, Vijay Singh was crowned European Tour Golfer of the Year, having won the PGA Championship and deposed Tiger Woods at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Major tournaments.
For a summary of the major tournaments and events of 2004, including the major championships and the World Golf Championships, see 2004 in golf.
Schedule.
The table below shows the 2004 European Tour schedule which was made up of 45 tournaments counting towards the Order of Merit, which included the four major championships and three World Golf Championships.
Changes from 2003 included two new tournaments, the Open de Sevilla and The Heritage, and the loss of the Benson & Hedges International Open, the Trophée Lancôme and the Nordic Open. The HSBC World Match Play Championship also became an official money-list event for the first time with an increased field determined by qualification criteria, which also meant it regained world ranking status, and the Mallorca Classic became a full European Tour event having been a dual-ranking event in 2003.
Order of Merit.
In 2004, the European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit". It was calculated in euro, although around half of the events had prize funds which were fixed in other currencies, mostly either British pounds or U.S. dollars. In these instances the amounts were converted into euro at the exchange rate for the week that the tournament was played. The top 10 golfers in 2004 were: