1996 European Tour
The 1996 European Tour was the 25th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour.
The 1996 season saw co-sanctioning arrangements expand, with the PGA Tour of Australasia's Heineken Classic joining three Southern Africa Tour events on the schedule.
The Order of Merit was won by Scotland's Colin Montgomerie for the fourth consecutive year.Schedule
The table below shows the 1996 European Tour schedule which was made up of 38 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and several non-counting "Approved Special Events". There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Heineken Classic, the Dimension Data Pro-Am and the Loch Lomond World Invitational; and the loss of the Turespaña Open De Canaria and the Open de Baleares. Soon after the schedule was announced, a third Southern Africa Tour event was added, the FNB Players Championship.
In January, the Jersey Open was moved onto the European Senior Tour schedule and the Open Mediterrania was replaced by the Catalan Open. In February, a new tournament in Spain, the Oki Pro-Am was added opposite the Dunhill Cup. In March, the Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge was added to the schedule, taking the dates vacated by the Jersey Open, opposite the U.S. Open.Order of Merit
The PGA European Tour's money list was known as the "Volvo Order of Merit". It was based on prize money earned during the season and calculated in Pound sterling.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize money |
| 1 | Colin Montgomerie | | 875,146 |
| 2 | Ian Woosnam | | 650,423 |
| 3 | Robert Allenby | | 532,143 |
| 4 | Costantino Rocca | | 482,585 |
| 5 | Mark McNulty | | 463,847 |
| 6 | Lee Westwood | | 428,693 |
| 7 | Andrew Coltart | | 345,936 |
| 8 | Darren Clarke | | 329,795 |
| 9 | Paul Broadhurst | | 300,364 |
| 10 | Thomas Bjørn | | 292,023 |
Awards
