1978 European Tour

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1978 European Tour season
Duration12 April 1978 (1978-04-12) – 22 October 1978 (1978-10-22)
Number of official events21
Most wins4 – Seve Ballesteros
Order of MeritSeve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearSandy Lyle
← 1977
1979 →

The 1978 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) European Tournament Players’ Division circuit. It is officially recognised as the seventh 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, with the title of the circuit being changed to PGA European Golf Tour in 1979.[1]

The Order of Merit was won by Spain's Seve Ballesteros.

Schedule[]

The table below shows the 1978 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, Wales and Scotland.

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Belgian Open, the B.A./Avis Open in Jersey, and the European Open; the return of the Sumrie Better-Ball; and the loss of the Uniroyal International Championship, the Callers of Newcastle, and the Double Diamond team and individual events. In addition, the Kerrygold International was omitted from the schedule in 1978 due to the World Cup being held at Waterville.[2][3] The Lancome Trophy, which clashed with the new European Open, was also missing.[4]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[a] Notes
6–9 Apr Masters Tournament United States South Africa Gary Player (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
12–15 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal England Howard Clark (1)
19–22 Apr Spanish Open Spain Scotland Brian Barnes (5)
26–29 Apr Madrid Open Spain England Howard Clark (2)
4–7 May Italian Open Italy South Africa Dale Hayes (2)
12–15 May French Open France South Africa Dale Hayes (3)
18–21 May Martini International England Spain Seve Ballesteros (5)
26–29 May Colgate PGA Championship England England Nick Faldo (2)
1–4 Jun B.A./Avis Open Jersey Wales Brian Huggett (2) New tournament
8–11 Jun Belgian Open Belgium Australia Noel Ratcliffe (1) New tournament
15–18 Jun U.S. Open United States United States Andy North (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
15–18 Jun Greater Manchester Open England Scotland Brian Barnes (6)
21–24 Jun Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball England Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy (n/a) &
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr (n/a) 		Pairs event, non-counting for the Order of Merit[a]
28 Jun – 1 Jul Sun Alliance Match Play Championship Scotland England Mark James (1)
12–15 Jul The Open Championship Scotland United States Jack Nicklaus (n/a) Major championship
21–23 Jul Dutch Open Netherlands United States Bob Byman (3)
27–30 Jul Braun German Open West Germany Spain Seve Ballesteros (6)
3–6 Aug PGA Championship United States United States John Mahaffey (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
3–6 Aug Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Spain Seve Ballesteros (7)
9–12 Aug Benson and Hedges International Open England United States Lee Trevino (n/a)
24–27 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Republic of Ireland Scotland Ken Brown (1)
31 Aug – 3 Sep Swiss Open Switzerland Spain Seve Ballesteros (8)
14–17 Sep Tournament Players Championship England England Brian Waites (1)
21–23 Sep Hennessy Cognac Cup France Great Britain and Ireland Approved special event; team event
4–7 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales England Tommy Horton (4)
12–15 Oct Colgate World Match Play Championship England Japan Isao Aoki (n/a) Approved special event
12–15 Oct Cacharel World Under-25 Championship France Canada Jim Nelford (n/a) Approved special event
19–22 Oct European Open England United States Bobby Wadkins (n/a) New tournament
  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.[5]

Position Player Country Points Prize money (£)
1 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 47,177 54,348
2 Dale Hayes  South Africa 30,204 43,891
3 Nick Faldo  England 28,495 37,912
4 Ken Brown  Scotland 24,929 29,843
5 Howard Clark  England 24,473 32,739
6 Neil Coles  England 23,150 30,348
7 Mark James  England 19,020 27,861
8 Brian Barnes  Scotland 18,105 23,386
9 Bernard Gallacher  Scotland 17,714 21,812
10 Tommy Horton  England 16,264 18,007

Awards[]

Award Winner Country
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Sandy Lyle  Scotland

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Raymond (20 December 1977). "Our golf scene goes European". Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, Scotland. p. 19. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  3. ^ Foulger, Neville (29 December 1977). "Faldo carries British hopes against hefty continental challenge". Coventry Evening Telegraph. Coventry, England. p. 34. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Golf pros banned from tourney". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, Scotland. 28 April 1978. p. 1. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ "Ballesteros again". The Guardian. 3 November 1978. p. 22. Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[]

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