Largest Winning Margins on the European Tour (DP World Tour)
The overall record was set by Tiger Woods in the 2000 U.S. Open, which Woods won by 15 strokes over runners-up Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez. The European Tour counts the U.S. Open as an official tour event. At the time of Woods' 15-stroke victory, nobody else in European Tour history had won by more than 11 strokes — except for Woods himself in the 1997 Masters (12-stroke margin), also counted as an official European Tour victory. (Note that Woods' 15-shot win is not the PGA Tour's record for largest margin of victory, but it certainly makes the list.)
Outside of the majors, in tournaments that one can think of as "traditional" European Tour tournaments (not co-sanctioned by the U.S. PGA Tour), the record is a 14-stroke margin of victory. That is the margin by which Yurav Premlall won the 2026 Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship in Spain. It was the first European Tour victory for the 22-year-old South African golfer. Remarkably, Premlall was six shots off the lead after the first round.
The List: European Tour's Largest Margins of Victory
- 15 strokes — Tiger Woods, 2000 U.S. Open
- 14 strokes — Yurav Premlall, 2026 Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship
- 13 strokes — Ernie Els, 2005 BMW Asian Open
- 13 strokes — Retief Goosen, 2002 Johnnie Walker Classic
- 12 strokes — Tiger Woods, 1997 Masters
- 12 strokes — Charl Schwartzel, 2013 Alfred Dunhill Championship
Who was the first golfer to win by 11 strokes on the Euro Tour? That was Tony Jacklin in the Scandinavian Enterprise Open in 1974, the tour's third year of existence. And Woods himself had one of those 11-stroke wins in a European Tour co-sanctioned tournament, a WGC tournament. Woods won by 11 in the 2000 WGC NEC Invitational.
Other 11-stroke wins on the European Tour: Dale Hayes, 1978 French Open; Ken Brown, 1984 Glasgow Open; Colin Montgomerie, 1989 Portuguese Open; Vijay Singh, 1992 Volvo German Open; Sergio Garcia, 2011 Castello Masters; and Alex Noren, 2011 Nordea Masters.
Related articles:
- European Tour 72-hole scoring records
- Tiger Woods' largest margins of victory
- Largest winning margins on LPGA Tour
European Tour. "What are the biggest winning margins on the DP World Tour?," May 11, 2006, https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/news/articles/detail/what-are-the-biggest-winning-margins-on-the-dp-world-tour/.
European Tour. "Yurav Premlall records thumping 14-shot win for maiden title," May 10, 2026, https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/estrella-damm-catalunya-championship-2026/.
European Tour. 2019 Media Guide, All-Time Records, Largest Winning Margins.
