Location | Hertfordshire, England |
---|---|
Established | 1946 |
Course(s) | The Grove |
Par | 71 |
Length | 7,121 yards (6,511 m) |
Tour(s) | European Tour |
Format | Stroke play |
Prize fund | £3,000,000 |
Month played | October |
Aggregate | 266 Peter Baker (1993) |
To par | −22 Peter Baker (1993) |
Alexander Norén |
The British Masters is a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently thereafter, with the word "British" usually also in the tournament's official name.
The tournament was not held from 2009 to 2014 but returned to the schedule in 2015. The 2015 event was held at Woburn from 8 to 11 October and was won by Matthew Fitzpatrick.
The Dunlop Masters was first held in 1946 and was a continuation of the Dunlop-Metropolitan Tournament which had been held before World War II. Like the Dunlop-Metropolitan, the Dunlop Masters was a 72-hole end-of-season event with a restricted field. The Dunlop-Metropolitan was first played in 1934, the same year as The Masters.
During the 1980s the British Masters was one of the most lucrative events on the European Tour with a prize fund that was as high as third among the tournaments on the schedule, but its status, or at least its relative level of prize money, has declined considerably in recent years.
The tournament has been played at many different venues; twice in the "Dunlop Masters" era it was held in the Republic of Ireland. When the Quinn Group took over as sponsors in 2006, the event was moved again, this time to the Group owned Belfry.
The deal with the Quinn Group ended in 2008, and when attempts to find another sponsor were unsuccessful, the British Masters was removed from the European Tour schedule for 2009.
The event returned in 2015, being played at Woburn and hosted by golfer Ian Poulter. The 2016 edition will be played at The Grove and hosted by Luke Donald.
The 1967 event was particularly notable for providing British television with its first live hole in one, as Tony Jacklin aced the 16th hole at Royal St George's.