1981 European Tour

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.

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 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The local rule that had been introduced on the tour in 1976 which allowed spike marks to be repaired was rescinded, and a local rule that prohibited touching of the line of a putt with a club was introduced.[1]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[lower-alpha 1] Notes
9–12 Apr Masters Tournament United States Tom Watson (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
23–26 Apr Madrid Open Spain Manuel Piñero (5)
30 Apr – 3 May Italian Open Italy José María Cañizares (4)
7–10 May Paco Rabanne Open de France France Sandy Lyle (5)
14–17 May Martini International England Greg Norman (5)
22–25 May Sun Alliance PGA Championship England Nick Faldo (4)
28–31 May Dunlop Masters England Greg Norman (6)
4–7 Jun Lawrence Batley International England Sandy Lyle (6) New tournament
11–14 Jun Cold Shield Greater Manchester Open England Bernard Gallacher (7)
18–21 Jun U.S. Open United States David Graham (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
18–21 Jun Billy Butlin Jersey Open Jersey Tony Jacklin (7)
25–28 Jun Coral Classic Wales Des Smyth (4)
2–5 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Seve Ballesteros (15)
8–11 Jul State Express Classic England Rodger Davis (1)
16–19 Jul The Open Championship England Bill Rogers (n/a) Major championship
23–26 Jul KLM Dutch Open Netherlands Harold Henning (1)
30 Jul – 2 Aug German Open West Germany Bernhard Langer (2)
6–9 Aug PGA Championship United States Larry Nelson (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
13–16 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Republic of Ireland Sam Torrance (3)
20–23 Aug Benson and Hedges International Open England Tom Weiskopf (1)
27–30 Aug Swiss Open Switzerland Manuel Piñero (6)
3–6 Sep Dixcel Tissues European Open England Graham Marsh (8)
10–13 Sep Haig Whisky TPC Scotland Brian Barnes (9)
18–20 Sept Ryder Cup England United States Approved special event; team event
24–27 Sep Bob Hope British Classic England Bernhard Langer (3)
1–4 Oct Benson and Hedges Spanish Open Spain Seve Ballesteros (16)
8–11 Oct Suntory World Match Play England Seve Ballesteros (n/a) Approved special event
15–18 Oct Lancome Trophy France David Graham (n/a) Approved special event
22–25 Oct Cacharel World Under-25 Championship France Tim Simpson (n/a) Approved special event
  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 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.

PositionPlayerCountryPrize money (£)
1Bernhard Langer West Germany81,036
2Nick Faldo England48,109
3Sandy Lyle Scotland44,732
4Greg Norman Australia44,254
5Manuel Piñero Spain39,640
6Sam Torrance Scotland36,012
7Seve Ballesteros Spain35,154
8Des Smyth Ireland29,105
9Eamonn Darcy Ireland25,805
10José María Cañizares Spain25,529

Awards

AwardWinnerCountry
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearJeremy Bennett England

See also

References

  1. 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.
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