1979 European Tour

1979 European Tour season
Duration12 April 1979 (1979-04-12) – 6 October 1979 (1979-10-06)
Number of official events23
Most winsScotland Sandy Lyle (3)
Order of MeritScotland Sandy Lyle
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearScotland Mike Miller
← 1978
1980 →

The 1979 European Tour, titled as the 1979 PGA European Golf Tour,[1] was the eighth season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 1979

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Welsh Golf Classic and Lada English Golf Classic. A new team event was also planned for France, replacing the Sumrie Better-Ball,[2] but it was not held.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1979 season.[3][4]

Date Tournament Host country Purse
(£) 		Winner[a] Notes
15 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal 28,810 Scotland Brian Barnes (7)
15 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$299,625 United States Fuzzy Zoeller (n/a) Major championship[b]
22 Apr Spanish Open Spain 35,000 South Africa Dale Hayes (4)
29 Apr Madrid Open Spain 33,000 South Africa Simon Hobday (2)
6 May Italian Open Italy 33,500 Scotland Brian Barnes (8)
13 May French Open France 33,500 Scotland Bernard Gallacher (5)
20 May Colgate PGA Championship England 50,000 Argentina Vicente Fernández (2)
28 May Martini International England 42,000 Australia Greg Norman (2)
3 Jun B.A./Avis Open Jersey 30,000 Scotland Sandy Lyle (1)
10 Jun Belgian Open Belgium 32,300 South Africa Gavan Levenson (1)
17 Jun Welsh Golf Classic Wales 30,000 England Mark James (2) New tournament
17 Jun U.S. Open United States US$325,000 United States Hale Irwin (n/a) Major championship[b]
24 Jun Greater Manchester Open England 30,000 Zimbabwe Rhodesia Mark McNulty (1)
1 Jul Lada English Golf Classic England 50,000 Spain Seve Ballesteros (9) New tournament
8 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden 35,000 Scotland Sandy Lyle (2)
21 Jul The Open Championship Scotland 155,000 Spain Seve Ballesteros (10) Major championship
29 Jul Dutch Open Netherlands 35,000 Australia Graham Marsh (5)
5 Aug Sun Alliance Match Play Championship Scotland 40,000 Republic of Ireland Des Smyth (1)
5 Aug PGA Championship United States US$350,000 Australia David Graham (n/a) Major championship[b]
12 Aug Benson & Hedges International Open England 60,000 England Maurice Bembridge (6)
19 Aug Braun German Open West Germany 32,000 England Tony Jacklin (6)
26 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Ireland 60,000 England Mark James (3)
2 Sep Swiss Open Switzerland 48,400 South Africa Hugh Baiocchi (5)
9 Sep European Open Championship England 105,000 Scotland Sandy Lyle (3)
23 Sep SOS Talisman TPC England 50,000 England Michael King (1)
6 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales 60,000 Australia Graham Marsh (6)

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
18 Aug News of the World Under-23 Match Play Championship England 10,000 Wales Ian Woosnam
16 Sep Ryder Cup United States n/a Team USA Team event
30 Sep Cacharel World Under-25 Championship France 20,000 West Germany Bernhard Langer
14 Oct Suntory World Match Play Championship England 110,000 United States Bill Rogers Limited-field event
28 Oct Trophée Lancôme France 25,000 United States Johnny Miller
11 Nov World Cup Greece n/a United States Hale Irwin and
United States John Mahaffey 		Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy United States Hale Irwin

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.[4][5]

Position Player Points Prize money (£)
1 Scotland Sandy Lyle 39,808 49,233
2 Spain Seve Ballesteros 37,026 47,411
3 England Mark James 32,494 38,534
4 South Africa Dale Hayes 30,031 32,540
5 England Michael King 26,283 29,725
6 Scotland Brian Barnes 26,218 28,204
7 Scotland Ken Brown 22,991 25,407
8 Spain Antonio Garrido 21,825 24,665
9 England Tony Jacklin 20,505 22,179
10 England Neil Coles 19,186 21,351

Awards

Award Winner Ref.
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Scotland Mike Miller [6]

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.
  2. ^ a b c Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References

  1. ^ "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Raymond (21 December 1978). "£1½m record prize money on European tour". Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, United Kingdom. Retrieved 11 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  3. ^ "1979 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b Simms, George (1979). World of Golf 1980. Macdonald and Jane's. pp. 83–128. ISBN 0362020078.
  5. ^ "Europa-touren-79" [European Tour-79]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 1. January 1980. p. 43. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Rookie of the year". Hull Daily Mail. Hull, United Kingdom. 6 October 1979. p. 25. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.