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:
Baldovino Dassù
Sam Torrance
Order of Merit Seve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year 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 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;[2] 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. 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.[3]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£)		 Winner[lower-alpha 1] Notes
11 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$225,000 Raymond Floyd (n/a) Major championship[lower-alpha 2]
17 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal 15,000 Salvador Balbuena (1)
24 Apr Spanish Open Spain 30,000 Eddie Polland (3)
1 May Madrid Open Spain 18,500 Francisco Abreu (2)
9 May French Open France 22,000 Vincent Tshabalala (1)
15 May Piccadilly Medal England 40,000 Sam Torrance (1)
31 May Penfold PGA Championship England 50,000 Neil Coles (5)
7 Jun Kerrygold International Classic Ireland 12,500 Tony Jacklin (5)
12 Jun Martini International England 15,000 Sam Torrance (2)
20 Jun Greater Manchester Open England 12,000 John O'Leary (1) New to European Tour
20 Jun U.S. Open United States US$250,000 Jerry Pate (n/a) Major championship[lower-alpha 2]
26 Jun Uniroyal International England 25,000 Tommy Horton (3) New tournament
10 Jul The Open Championship England 75,000 Johnny Miller (n/a) Major championship
18 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden 38,500 Hugh Baiocchi (3)
25 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland 30,000 Manuel Piñero (2)
8 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands 25,000 Seve Ballesteros (1)
15 Aug German Open West Germany 25,000 Simon Hobday (1)
15 Aug PGA Championship United States US$250,000 Dave Stockton (n/a) Major championship[lower-alpha 2]
18 Aug Double Diamond Individual Championship Scotland 10,000 Simon Owen (2)
29 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Ireland 35,000 Ben Crenshaw (n/a)
5 Sep Sun Alliance Match Play Championship England 20,000 Brian Barnes (4)
25 Sep Benson & Hedges International Open England 40,000 Graham Marsh (4)
2 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales 30,000 Baldovino Dassù (1)
24 Oct Italian Open Italy 27,000 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 Eamonn Darcy and
Christy O'Connor Jnr		 Team event
5 Jun Cacharel World Under-25 Championship France n/a 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 Howard Clark
9 Oct Piccadilly World Match Play Championship England 75,000 David Graham 8-player field
17 Oct Trophée Lancôme France US$40,000 Seve Ballesteros New to European Tour
12 Dec World Cup United States US$4,200 Seve Ballesteros and
Manuel Piñero		 Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy US$2,100 Ernesto Pérez Acosta

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]

PositionPlayerPointsPrize money
(£)
1 Seve Ballesteros21,494.8239,504
2 Eamonn Darcy16,740.8725,027
3 Sam Torrance16,627.1620,917
4 Manuel Piñero16,474.0019,946
5 Tommy Horton16,184.8822,781
6 Neil Coles15,975.7220,543
7 Martin Foster12,668.5717,436
8 Brian Barnes12,255.7423,350
9 Baldovino Dassù12,160.7813,405
10 Simon Hobday11,892.9715,196

Awards
AwardWinner
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Mark James

See also

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