English Open

Cazoo Classic
	European Tour
Format	Stroke play
Prize fund	€1,750,000
Month played	July
Final year	2022
Tournament record score
Aggregate	268 Darren Clarke (1999)
To par	−20 as above
Final champion
	Richie Ramsay
Location map
	Hillside GC Location in England Hillside GC Location in Merseyside

The English Open was a professional

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,^[1] and despite initial sponsorship issues, there were hopes that the new English Open would develop into another major national open on the circuit.^[2]

After the first event, which was held at

Forest of Arden. It was then played at Hanbury Manor between 1997 and 1999, before returning to the Forest of Arden^[3] 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,^[4]

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

recession.^[6] In March 2011 it was announced that the event had been cancelled due to insufficient sponsorship revenue having been raised by the organisers.^[7]

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".^[8] 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.^[9]

The English Open did return in 2021, however a sponsorship agreement with

Cazoo Classic.^[10] Cazoo's multi-year partnership with the tour also included title sponsorship of the Wales Open.^[11]

Winners

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