Three major champions receive Honorary Life Membership of the European Tour
In the lead-up to the Dubai World Championship, the season-ending event of the European Tour, three major champions were presented with the highest honor the European Tour gives out: honorary
life membership.
PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer, U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, and British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen were presented with the award by George O’Grady, Chief Executive of
The European Tour, in the Jumeirah Golf Estates clubhouse in Dubai.
All three winners are members of the European Tour with the 25-year-old Kaymer from Germany, the 31-year-old McDowell from Northern Ireland, and the 28-year-old Oosthuizen from South Africa.
“Congratulations to Graeme McDowell, the first European to win the U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin 40 years earlier; to Martin Kaymer, the second German player to receive this award after
Bernhard Langer following his magnificent US PGA Championship win; and to the Open Champion, who follows so many great South African players who have their name on that trophy, from Bobby Locke and Gary Player to Ernie Els, and now joining Ernie, Retief Goosen
and Trevor Immelman as an Honorary Member of the Tour, Louis Oosthuizen,” said O’Grady at the ceremony.
Not only have three of this year’s major champions come from the European Tour, but the European team narrowly defeated the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup, contested in early October in Wales
and Englishman Lee Westwood passed Tiger Woods for the number-one spot on the world rankings late last month.
McDowell spoke on behalf of the three players. “It has been a great year for European Tour golf. With Europe also winning the Ryder Cup, and to have Lee Westwood as the world’s number-one
golfer, it has been a pretty good year for European golf and we are all proud to be part of The European Tour and look forward to a big weekend.”
The other major champion this year was American player Phil Mickelson, who won his third Masters title.
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