1973 European Tour

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1973 European Tour season
Duration28 March 1972 (1972-03-28) – 13 October 1972 (1972-10-13)
Number of official events21
Most wins3 – Peter Oosterhuis
Order of MeritPeter Oosterhuis
Leading money winnerTony Jacklin
Sir Henry Cotton
rookie of the year
Pip Elson
1972
1974

The 1973 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tournament circuit. It is officially recognised as the second season of the PGA European Tour.

Historically, the PGA's Order of Merit only included tournaments in Great Britain and Ireland, but in 1970 events in continental Europe were included for the first time. The circuit and organisation evolved further over the following years, adopting the name PGA European Golf Tour in 1979.[1]

The Order of Merit was won by England's Peter Oosterhuis.

Schedule[]

The table below shows the 1973 European Tour schedule which was made up of 21 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and some non-counting tournaments that later became known as "Approved Special Events". The schedule included the major national opens around Europe, with other tournaments mostly held in England, Scotland and Wales.[2]

There were three changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Portuguese Open and the Scandinavian Enterprise Open, and the loss of the John Player Trophy.[3]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[a] Notes
28–31 Mar Madrid Open Spain Spain Germán Garrido (1)
4–7 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal Spain (1) New tournament to the circuit
5–8 Apr Masters Tournament United States United States Tommy Aaron (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
11–14 Apr Spanish Open Spain England Neil Coles (2)
18–21 Apr Italian Open Italy England Tony Jacklin (2)
25–28 Apr Piccadilly Medal England England Peter Oosterhuis (2)
10–12 May Penfold-Bournemouth Tournament England Northern Ireland Eddie Polland (1)
16–19 May Sumrie Better-Ball England England Neil Coles (n/a) &
England Bernard Hunt (n/a)
Pairs event; not counting for the Order of Merit[a]
23–26 May Benson & Hedges Match Play Championship England England Neil Coles (3)
31 May – 3 Jun French Open France England Peter Oosterhuis (3)
6–9 Jun Martini International Scotland England Maurice Bembridge (1)
14–16 Jun Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship England Scotland Bernard Gallacher (n/a) Approved special event
14–17 Jun U.S. Open United States United States Johnny Miller (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
21–24 Jun Carroll's International Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland (1)
27–30 Jun Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open Scotland Australia Graham Marsh (3)
11–14 Jul The Open Championship Scotland United States Tom Weiskopf (n/a) Major championship
19–22 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden New Zealand Bob Charles (3) New tournament
26–29 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland South Africa Hugh Baiocchi (1)
2–5 Aug German Open West Germany Spain Francisco Abreu (1)
8–12 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands England Doug McClelland (1)
9–12 Aug PGA Championship United States United States Jack Nicklaus (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
15–18 Aug Benson & Hedges Festival England South Africa Vin Baker (1)
22–25 Aug Viyella PGA Championship England England Peter Oosterhuis (4)
30 Aug – 1 Sep Double Diamond International England Scotland Scotland Approved special event; team event
5–8 Sep W.D. & H.O. Wills Tournament England United States Charles Coody (n/a)
20–22 Sept Ryder Cup Scotland United States United States Approved special event; team event
26–29 Sep John Player Classic Scotland United States Charles Coody (n/a)
3–6 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales England Tony Jacklin (3)
11–13 Oct Piccadilly World Match Play England South Africa Gary Player (n/a) Approved special event
  1. ^ a b c d e The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names show the number of official career wins they had on the European Tour up to and including that event. Totals are only shown for members of the European Tour and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships since, although not official tour events at the time, they have been recognised as such retrospecively. Victories in tournaments later designated as "Approved Special Events", along with other events not counting towards the Order of Merit, are not recognised as official tour wins.

Order of Merit[]

The PGA European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit". It was based on a points system, which meant that some players could finish lower than others despite accumulating more prize money.[4]

Position Player Country Points Prize money (£)
1 Peter Oosterhuis  England 3,440.42 17,455
2 Maurice Bembridge  England 2,980.14 10,773
3 Hugh Baiocchi  South Africa 2,904.35 11,870
4 Dale Hayes  South Africa 2,736.07 10,188
5 Brian Barnes  Scotland 2,675.62 9,778
6 Eddie Polland  Northern Ireland 2,635.25 8,146
7 Tony Jacklin  England 24,840
8 Bernard Gallacher  Scotland 8,676
9 Neil Coles  England 14,748
10 Jack Newton  Australia 7,939

Awards[]

Award Winner Country
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Pip Elson  England

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  2. ^ "£½m. to be won on PGA circuit". Glasgow Herald. 19 January 1973. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  3. ^ Rodney, Bob (26 January 1973). "Top two for Player Classic". Daily Mirror. p. 27. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Oosty ahead of Bembridge". Birmingham Daily Post. 13 October 1973. p. 21. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.

External links[]

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