1976 European Tour

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1976 European Tour season
Duration14 April 1976 (1976-04-14) – 24 October 1976 (1976-10-24)
Number of official events21
Most wins2 – Baldovino Dassù, Sam Torrance
Order of MeritSeve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearMark James
← 1975
1977 →

The 1976 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Tournament Players’ Division circuit. It is officially recognised as the fifth 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 Spain's Seve Ballesteros.

Schedule[]

The table below shows the 1976 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 the other tournaments mostly held in England and Scotland.[2] There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Greater Manchester Open and the Uniroyal International;[3] along with non-counting events the Cacharel World Under-25 Championship and the Lancome Trophy; and the Benson & Hedges Festival being retitled as the Benson and Hedges International Open.

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[a] Notes
8–11 Apr Masters Tournament United States United States Raymond Floyd (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
14–17 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal Spain Salvador Balbuena (1)
21–24 Apr Spanish Open Spain Northern Ireland Eddie Polland (3)
28 Apr – 1 May Madrid Open Spain Spain Francisco Abreu (2)
6–9 May French Open France South Africa Vincent Tshabalala (1)
12–15 May Piccadilly Medal England Scotland Sam Torrance (1)
19–22 May Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball England Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy (n/a) &
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr (n/a) 		Pairs event; not counting for the Order of Merit[a]
28–31 May Penfold PGA Championship England England Neil Coles (5)
2–5 Jun Cacharel World Under-25 Championship France Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy (n/a) New tournament; not counting for the Order of Merit[a]
4–7 Jun Kerrygold International Classic Republic of Ireland England Tony Jacklin (5)
9–12 Jun Martini International England Scotland Sam Torrance (2)
17–20 Jun U.S. Open United States United States Jerry Pate (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
17–20 Jun Greater Manchester Open England Republic of Ireland John O'Leary (1) New tournament
23–26 Jun Uniroyal International England England Tommy Horton (3) New tournament
30 Jun – 3 Jul Phillip Morris International France United States United States Approved special event; team event
7–10 Jul The Open Championship England United States Johnny Miller (n/a) Major championship
15–18 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden South Africa Hugh Baiocchi (3)
22–25 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland Spain Manuel Piñero (2)
5–8 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands Spain Seve Ballesteros (1)
12–15 Aug PGA Championship United States United States Dave Stockton (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
12–15 Aug German Open West Germany South Africa Simon Hobday (1)
17–18 Aug Double Diamond Individual Championship Scotland New Zealand Simon Owen (2)
19–21 Aug Double Diamond International Scotland England England Team event; not counting for the Order of Merit
26–29 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Republic of Ireland United States Ben Crenshaw (n/a)
2–5 Sep Sun Alliance Match Play Championship England Scotland Brian Barnes (4)
16–18 Sep
15–17 Jul 		T.P.D. Under-25 Championship England England Howard Clark (n/a) Not counting for the Order of Merit[a]
22–25 Sep Benson and Hedges International Open England Australia Graham Marsh (4)
29 Sep – 2 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales Italy Baldovino Dassù (1)
7–9 Oct Piccadilly World Match Play England Australia David Graham (n/a) Approved special event[a]
14–17 Oct Lancome Trophy France Spain Seve Ballesteros (n/a) New tournament; approved special event[a]
21–24 Oct Italian Open Italy Italy Baldovino Dassù (2)
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 21,494.82 39,504
2 Eamonn Darcy  Ireland 16,740.87 25,027
3 Sam Torrance  Scotland 16,627.16 20,917
4 Manuel Piñero  Spain 16,474.00 19,946
5 Tommy Horton  England 16,184.88 22,781
6 Neil Coles  England 15,975.72 20,543
7 Martin Foster  England 12,668.57 17,436
8 Brian Barnes  Scotland 12,255.74 23,350
9 Baldovino Dassù  Italy 12,160.78 13,405
10 Simon Hobday  South Africa 11,892.97 15,196

Awards[]

Award Winner Country
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Mark James  England

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  2. ^ "Cold shoulder for Scots fans". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 12 December 1975. p. 25. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ Ward-Thomas, Pat (12 December 1975). "Prize increases put £1m within reach". The Guardian. p. 26. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Sevvy tops table". Glasgow Herald. 27 October 1976. Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.

External links[]

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