1974 European Tour

The 1974 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tournament circuit. It is officially recognised as the third season of the PGA European Tour.

1974 European Tour season
Duration10 April 1974 (1974-04-10) – 10 November 1974 (1974-11-10)
Number of official events21
Most wins3 – Maurice Bembridge, Peter Oosterhuis
Order of MeritPeter Oosterhuis
Leading money winnerPeter Oosterhuis
Sir Henry Cotton
rookie of the year		Carl Mason
← 1973
1975 →

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, adopting the name PGA European Golf Tour in 1979.[1]

The Order of Merit was won by England's Peter Oosterhuis.

Schedule

The table below shows the 1974 European Tour schedule which 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 other tournaments mostly held in England, Scotland and Wales.[2]

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Double Diamond Strokeplay, the El Paraiso Open and the non-counting Ibergolf Trophy to conclude the season;[2] and the loss of the Scottish Open.[3] The John Player Classic was scheduled for late September, but ultimately cancelled due to a clash of dates with the PGA Tour's Kaiser International Open Invitational.[4]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[lower-alpha 1] Notes
10–13 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal Brian Huggett (1)
11–14 Apr Masters Tournament United States Gary Player (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
17–20 Apr Spanish Open Spain Jerry Heard (1)
24–27 Apr Madrid Open Spain Manuel Piñero (1)
2–5 May French Open France Peter Oosterhuis (5)
8–11 May Penfold Tournament England Tommy Horton (2)
15–18 May Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball England Clive Clark (n/a) &
Peter Butler (n/a)		 Pairs event; not counting for the Order of Merit[lower-alpha 1]
22 25 May Piccadilly Medal England Maurice Bembridge (2)
5–8 Jun Martini International England Stewart Ginn (1)
13–15 Jun Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship England Dale Hayes (n/a) Approved special event
13–16 Jun U.S. Open United States Hale Irwin (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
20–23 Jun Carroll's International Republic of Ireland Bernard Gallacher (1)
10–13 Jul The Open Championship England Gary Player (n/a) Major championship
18–21 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Tony Jacklin (4)
24–27 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland Bob Charles (4)
1–4 Aug German Open West Germany Simon Owen (1)
6–8 Aug Lord Derby's Young Professionals' Tournament England Richard Jewell (n/a) Approved special event
8–11 Aug PGA Championship United States Lee Trevino (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
8–11 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands Brian Barnes (2)
14–17 Aug Benson & Hedges Festival England Philippe Toussaint (1)
20–21 Aug Double Diamond Strokeplay Scotland Maurice Bembridge (3) New tournament
22–24 Aug Double Diamond International Scotland England Approved special event; team event
28–31 Aug Viyella PGA Championship England Maurice Bembridge (4)
12–15 Sep Benson & Hedges Match Play Championship Scotland Jack Newton (3)
18–21 Sep W.D. & H.O. Wills Tournament England Neil Coles (4)
25–28 Sep John Player Classic England Cancelled
2–5 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales Bernard Gallacher (2)
10–12 Oct Piccadilly World Match Play England Hale Irwin (n/a) Approved special event
17–20 Oct Italian Open Italy Peter Oosterhuis (6)
23–26 Oct El Paraiso Open Spain Peter Oosterhuis (7)
1–3 Nov Sotogrande Match Spain Great Britain and Ireland New tournament; approved special event; team event
8–10 Nov Ibergolf Trophy Spain Gary Player (n/a) New tournament; not counting for the Order of Merit[lower-alpha 1]
  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 tournaments later designated as "Approved Special Events", along with other events not counting towards the Order of Merit, are not recognised as official tour wins.

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]

PositionPlayerCountryPointsPrize money (£)
1Peter Oosterhuis England2,964.9932,127
2Dale Hayes South Africa2,378.8318,396
3Bernard Gallacher Scotland2,148.4018,515
4Brian Barnes Scotland2,110.5014,380
5Neil Coles England2,079.8513,961
6Vicente Fernández Argentina2,061.167,819
7Tony Jacklin England2,032.5019,547
8Brian Huggett Wales2,031.9312,373
9Peter Townsend England1,979.6215,828
10Tommy Horton England1,902.3611,343

Awards
AwardWinnerCountry
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearCarl Mason England
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See also

References
  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  2. Jacobs, Raymond (21 December 1973). "Prize money next year will reach record £660,000". Glasgow Herald. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  3. "No TV—No Scots' open". Glasgow Herald. 23 November 1973. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  4. Jacobs, Raymond (6 March 1974). "Player Classic is dropped". Glasgow Herald. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  5. "Runaway win for Peter Oosterhuis". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 5 November 1974. p. 20. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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