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1979 European Tour season
Duration	12 April 1979 – 6 October 1979
Number of official events	23
Most wins	Sandy Lyle (3)
Order of Merit	Sandy Lyle
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	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	Brian Barnes (7)
15 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$299,625	Fuzzy Zoeller (n/a)	Major championship^[b]
22 Apr	Spanish Open	Spain	35,000	Dale Hayes (4)
29 Apr	Madrid Open	Spain	33,000	Simon Hobday (2)
6 May	Italian Open	Italy	33,500	Brian Barnes (8)
13 May	French Open	France	33,500	Bernard Gallacher (5)
20 May	Colgate PGA Championship	England	50,000	Vicente Fernández (2)
28 May	Martini International	England	42,000	Greg Norman (2)
3 Jun	B.A./Avis Open	Jersey	30,000	Sandy Lyle (1)
10 Jun	Belgian Open	Belgium	32,300	Gavan Levenson (1)
17 Jun	Welsh Golf Classic	Wales	30,000	Mark James (2)	New tournament
17 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$325,000	Hale Irwin (n/a)	Major championship^[b]
24 Jun	Greater Manchester Open	England	30,000	Mark McNulty (1)
1 Jul	Lada English Golf Classic	England	50,000	Seve Ballesteros (9)	New tournament
8 Jul	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	35,000	Sandy Lyle (2)
21 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	155,000	Seve Ballesteros (10)	Major championship
29 Jul	Dutch Open	Netherlands	35,000	Graham Marsh (5)
5 Aug	Sun Alliance Match Play Championship	Scotland	40,000	Des Smyth (1)
5 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$350,000	David Graham (n/a)	Major championship^[b]
12 Aug	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	60,000	Maurice Bembridge (6)
19 Aug	Braun German Open	West Germany	32,000	Tony Jacklin (6)
26 Aug	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	60,000	Mark James (3)
2 Sep	Swiss Open	Switzerland	48,400	Hugh Baiocchi (5)
9 Sep	European Open Championship	England	105,000	Sandy Lyle (3)
23 Sep	SOS Talisman TPC	England	50,000	Michael King (1)
6 Oct	Dunlop Masters	Wales	60,000	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	Ian Woosnam
16 Sep	Ryder Cup	United States	n/a	Team USA	Team event
30 Sep	Cacharel World Under-25 Championship	France	20,000	Bernhard Langer
14 Oct	Suntory World Match Play Championship	England	110,000	Bill Rogers	Limited-field event
28 Oct	Trophée Lancôme	France	25,000	Johnny Miller
11 Nov	World Cup	Greece	n/a	Hale Irwin and John Mahaffey	Team event
11 Nov	World Cup Individual Trophy	Greece	n/a	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	Sandy Lyle	39,808	49,233
2	Seve Ballesteros	37,026	47,411
3	Mark James	32,494	38,534
4	Dale Hayes	30,031	32,540
5	Michael King	26,283	29,725
6	Brian Barnes	26,218	28,204
7	Ken Brown	22,991	25,407
8	Antonio Garrido	21,825	24,665
9	Tony Jacklin	20,505	22,179
10	Neil Coles	19,186	21,351

Awards

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

Notes

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

References

^ "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
^ 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.
^ "1979 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
^ ^a ^b Simms, George (1979). World of Golf 1980. Macdonald and Jane's. pp. 83–128. ISBN 0362020078.
^ "Europa-touren-79" [European Tour-79]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 1. January 1980. p. 43. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
^ "Rookie of the year". Hull Daily Mail. Hull, United Kingdom. 6 October 1979. p. 25. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.