1978 European Tour
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.
| Duration | 12 April 1978 – 22 October 1978 |
|---|---|
| Number of official events | 21 |
| Most wins | 4:.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Seve Ballesteros |
| Order of Merit | Seve Ballesteros |
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year |  Sandy Lyle |
← 1977 1979 → | |
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.
Changes for 1978
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 Championship; 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]
Schedule
The following table lists official events during the 1978 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, Wales and Scotland.
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Jun | Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball | England | 20,000 |  Eamonn Darcy and Christy O'Connor Jnr |
Team event |
| 23 Sep | Hennessy Cognac Cup | France | n/a |  Team GB&I |
Team event |
| 15 Oct | Cacharel World Under-25 Championship | France | n/a | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Jim Nelford |
|
| 15 Oct | Colgate World Match Play Championship | England | 130,000 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Isao Aoki |
12-player field |
| 3 Dec | World Cup | United States | n/a |  John Mahaffey and Andy North |
Team event |
| World Cup Individual Trophy | John Mahaffey |
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 | Points | Prize money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seve Ballesteros | 47,177 | 54,348 |
| 2 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Dale Hayes | 30,204 | 43,891 |
| 3 |  Nick Faldo | 28,495 | 37,912 |
| 4 | Ken Brown | 24,929 | 29,843 |
| 5 | Howard Clark | 24,473 | 32,739 |
| 6 | Neil Coles | 23,150 | 30,348 |
| 7 | Mark James | 19,020 | 27,861 |
| 8 | Brian Barnes | 18,105 | 23,386 |
| 9 | Bernard Gallacher | 17,714 | 21,812 |
| 10 | Tommy Horton | 16,264 | 18,007 |
Awards
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year | Sandy Lyle |
Notes
- 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.
- Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.
References
- "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
- Jacobs, Raymond (20 December 1977). "Our golf scene goes European". Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, Scotland. p. 19. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
- 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.
- "Golf pros banned from tourney". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, Scotland. 28 April 1978. p. 1. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "Ballesteros again". The Guardian. 3 November 1978. p. 22. Retrieved 16 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.