1976 European Tour

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.

1976 European Tour season
Duration14 April 1976 (1976-04-14) – 24 October 1976 (1976-10-24)
Number of official events21
Most wins2:
Italy Baldovino Dassù
Scotland Sam Torrance
Order of MeritSpain Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearEngland Mark James
← 1975
1977 →

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 season 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]

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

Changes for 1976

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 & Hedges International Open.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1976 season.

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)		 Winner[lower-alpha 1] Notes
11 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$200,000 United States Raymond Floyd (n/a) Major championship[lower-alpha 2]
17 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal 15,000 Spain Salvador Balbuena (1)
24 Apr Spanish Open Spain 30,000 Northern Ireland Eddie Polland (3)
1 May Madrid Open Spain 18,500 Spain Francisco Abreu (2)
9 May French Open France 22,000 South Africa Vincent Tshabalala (1)
15 May Piccadilly Medal England 40,000 Scotland Sam Torrance (1)
31 May Penfold PGA Championship England 50,000 England Neil Coles (5)
7 Jun Kerrygold International Classic Ireland 12,500 England Tony Jacklin (5)
12 Jun Martini International England 15,000 Scotland Sam Torrance (2)
20 Jun Greater Manchester Open England 12,000 Republic of Ireland John O'Leary (1) New to European Tour
20 Jun U.S. Open United States US$210,000 United States Jerry Pate (n/a) Major championship[lower-alpha 2]
26 Jun Uniroyal International England 25,000 England Tommy Horton (3) New tournament
10 Jul The Open Championship England 75,000 United States Johnny Miller (n/a) Major championship
18 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden 38,500 South Africa Hugh Baiocchi (3)
25 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland 30,000 Spain Manuel Piñero (2)
8 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands 25,000 Spain Seve Ballesteros (1)
15 Aug German Open West Germany 25,000 South Africa Simon Hobday (1)
15 Aug PGA Championship United States US$250,000 United States Dave Stockton (n/a) Major championship[lower-alpha 2]
18 Aug Double Diamond Individual Championship Scotland 10,000 New Zealand Simon Owen (2)
29 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Ireland 35,000 United States Ben Crenshaw (n/a)
5 Sep Sun Alliance Match Play Championship England 20,000 Scotland Brian Barnes (4)
25 Sep Benson & Hedges International Open England 40,000 Australia Graham Marsh (4)
2 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales 30,000 Italy Baldovino Dassù (1)
24 Oct Italian Open Italy 27,000 Italy Baldovino Dassù (2)

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the European Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)		 Winner(s) Notes
22 May Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball England 12,000 Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy and
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr		 Team event
5 Jun Cacharel World Under-25 Championship France n/a Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy New tournament
3 Jul Phillip Morris International France n/a Team USA Team event
21 Aug Double Diamond International Scotland n/a Team England Team event
18 Sep
17 Jul		 T.P.D. Under-25 Championship England n/a England Howard Clark
9 Oct Piccadilly World Match Play Championship England 75,000 Australia David Graham Limited-field event
17 Oct Trophée Lancôme France US$40,000 Spain Seve Ballesteros New to European Tour
12 Dec World Cup United States US$4,200 Spain Seve Ballesteros and
Spain Manuel Piñero		 Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy US$2,100 Mexico Ernesto Pérez Acosta

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on prize money won during the season, calculated using a points-based system.[4]

PositionPlayerPointsPrize money (£)
1Spain Seve Ballesteros21,49539,504
2Republic of Ireland Eamonn Darcy16,74125,027
3Scotland Sam Torrance16,62720,917
4Spain Manuel Piñero16,47419,946
5England Tommy Horton16,18522,781
6England Neil Coles15,97620,543
7England Martin Foster12,66917,436
8Scotland Brian Barnes12,25623,350
9Italy Baldovino Dassù12,16113,405
10South Africa Simon Hobday11,89315,196

Awards
AwardWinner
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearEngland Mark James

See also

Notes
  1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of European Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for European Tour members and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998, with earlier editions having retrospectively been recognised as official tour wins. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.
  2. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

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.
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