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1981 European Tour

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1981 European Tour season
Duration23 April 1981 (1981-04-23) – 25 October 1981 (1981-10-25)
Number of official events22
Most wins2 – Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Greg Norman, Manuel Piñero
Order of MeritBernhard Langer
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearJeremy Bennett
1980
1982

The 1981 European Tour was the 10th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour and organised by the Professional Golfers' Association.

The Order of Merit was won by West Germany's Bernhard Langer.

Rule changes

The local rule that had been introduced on the tour in 1976 which allowed spike marks to be repaired was rescinded, and a local rule that prohibited touching of the line of a putt with a club was introduced.[1]

Schedule

The table below shows the 1981 European Tour schedule which was made up of 22 tournaments counting for the Official Money List, and some non-counting tournaments later known as "Approved Special Events".[2][1] There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Lawrence Batley International,[3] and the loss of the Newcastle Brown "900" Open and the Merseyside International Open.

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[a] Notes
9–12 Apr Masters Tournament United States United States Tom Watson (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
23–26 Apr Madrid Open Spain Spain Manuel Piñero (5)
30 Apr – 3 May Italian Open Italy Spain José Maria Cañizares (3)
7–10 May Paco Rabanne Open de France France Scotland Sandy Lyle (5)
14–17 May Martini International England Australia Greg Norman (5)
22–25 May Sun Alliance PGA Championship England England Nick Faldo (4)
28–31 May Dunlop Masters England Australia Greg Norman (6)
4–7 Jun Lawrence Batley International England Scotland Sandy Lyle (6) New tournament
11–14 Jun Cold Shield Greater Manchester Open England Scotland Bernard Gallacher (7)
18–21 Jun U.S. Open United States Australia David Graham (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
18–21 Jun Billy Butlin Jersey Open Jersey England Tony Jacklin (7)
25–28 Jun Coral Classic Wales Republic of Ireland Des Smyth (4)
2–5 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Spain Seve Ballesteros (15)
8–11 Jul State Express Classic England Australia Rodger Davis (1)
16–19 Jul The Open Championship England United States Bill Rogers (n/a) Major championship
23–26 Jul KLM Dutch Open Netherlands South Africa Harold Henning (1)
30 Jul – 2 Aug German Open West Germany West Germany Bernhard Langer (2)
6–9 Aug PGA Championship United States United States Larry Nelson (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[a]
13–16 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Republic of Ireland Scotland Sam Torrance (3)
20–23 Aug Benson and Hedges International Open England United States Tom Weiskopf (1)
27–30 Aug Swiss Open Switzerland Spain Manuel Piñero (6)
3–6 Sep Dixcel Tissues European Open England Australia Graham Marsh (8)
10–13 Sep Haig Whisky TPC Scotland Scotland Brian Barnes (9)
18–20 Sept Ryder Cup England United States United States Approved special event; team event
24–27 Sep Bob Hope British Classic England West Germany Bernhard Langer (3)
1–4 Oct Benson and Hedges Spanish Open Spain Spain Seve Ballesteros (16)
8–11 Oct Suntory World Match Play England Spain Seve Ballesteros (n/a) Approved special event
15–18 Oct Lancome Trophy France Australia David Graham (n/a) Approved special event
22–25 Oct Cacharel World Under-25 Championship France United States Tim Simpson (n/a) Approved special event
  1. ^ a b c d 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 since, although not official tour events at the time, they have been recognised as such retrospecively. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.

Official Money List

The PGA European Tour's money list was known as the "Official Money List". It was based on prize money earned during the season and calculated in Pound sterling.

Position Player Country Prize money (£)
1 Bernhard Langer  West Germany 81,036
2 Nick Faldo  England 48,109
3 Sandy Lyle  Scotland 44,732
4 Greg Norman  Australia 44,254
5 Manuel Piñero  Spain 39,640
6 Sam Torrance  Scotland 36,012
7 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 35,154
8 Des Smyth  Ireland 29,105
9 Eamonn Darcy  Ireland 25,805
10 José Maria Cañizares  Spain 25,529

Awards

Award Winner Country
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Jeremy Bennett  England

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Plumridge, Christopher (17 December 1980). "Putting an end to Europe's spiky problem". The Guardian. London, England. p. 21. Retrieved 9 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Raymond (17 December 1980). "Putting an end to Europe's spiky problem". Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, Scotland. p. 17. Retrieved 9 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  3. ^ "Chairman's tournament". The Times. London, England. 16 December 1980. p. 22. Retrieved 9 June 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.

External links