The British Masters was a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. It was part of the European Tour from the tour's establishment in 1972. 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. It was held at a variety of courses; twice in the "Dunlop Masters" era it was held in the Republic of Ireland.
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, and when the Quinn Group took over as sponsors in 2006, the event was moved again, this time to the Group owned Belfry. Having traditionally been held in the spring, in 2007 it was rescheduled to September in order to avoid a clash with PGA Tour's Players Championship, which had been moved to May.
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 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.
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