1977 European Tour

The 1977 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) European Tournament Players’ Division circuit. It is officially recognised as the sixth season of the PGA European Tour.

1977 European Tour season
Duration6 April 1977 (1977-04-06) – 16 October 1977 (1977-10-16)
Number of official events22
Most wins3 – Seve Ballesteros
Order of MeritSeve Ballesteros
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearNick Faldo
← 1976
1978 →

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, with the Tournament Players’ Division reaching an agreement to join with their continental counterparts, the Continental Tournament Players' Association, in December 1976 and as a result added the word "European" to their name for the 1977 season.[1][2] The title of the circuit was changed to the PGA European Golf Tour in 1979.[3]

The Order of Merit was won by Spain's Seve Ballesteros.

Schedule

The table below shows the 1977 European Tour schedule which was made up of 22 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 the other tournaments mostly held in England and Scotland.

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Callers of Newcastle and the Tournament Players Championship, which replaced the Piccadilly Medal.[2][4] Two events not counting for the Order of Merit, the Phillip Morris Nations Cup and the Sumrie Better-Ball, originally pencilled in for May,[5] were cancelled.[6]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[lower-alpha 1] Notes
6–9 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal Manuel Ramos (1)
7–10 Apr Masters Tournament United States Tom Watson (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
13–16 Apr Spanish Open Spain Bernard Gallacher (4)
20–23 Apr Madrid Open Spain Antonio Garrido (2)
28 Apr – 1 May Italian Open Italy Ángel Gallardo (1)
5–8 May French Open France Seve Ballesteros (2)
11–14 May Benson and Hedges International Open England Antonio Garrido (3)
18–21 May Sun Alliance Match Play Championship England Hugh Baiocchi (4)
25–28 May Penfold PGA Championship England Manuel Piñero (3)
2–5 Jun Kerrygold International Republic of Ireland Liam Higgins (1)
8–11 Jun Martini International England Greg Norman (1)
16–19 Jun U.S. Open United States Hubert Green (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
16–19 Jun Greater Manchester Open England Eamonn Darcy (1)
22–25 Jun Uniroyal International Championship England Seve Ballesteros (3)
29 Jun – 2 Jul Phillip Morris Nations Cup France Cancelled Approved special event; team event
6–9 Jul The Open Championship Scotland Tom Watson (n/a) Major championship
14–17 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland Seve Ballesteros (4)
21–24 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Bob Byman (1)
28–31 Jul Callers of Newcastle England John Fourie (1) New tournament
4–7 Aug German Open West Germany Tienie Britz (1)
11–14 Aug PGA Championship United States Lanny Wadkins (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
11–14 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands Bob Byman (2)
16–17 Aug Skol Lager Individual Scotland Nick Faldo (1)
18–20 Aug Double Diamond International Scotland United States Approved special event; team event
25–28 Aug Carroll's Irish Open Republic of Ireland Hubert Green (n/a)
7–10 Sep Tournament Players Championship England Neil Coles (6) New tournament
15–17 Sept Ryder Cup England United States Approved special event; team event
28 Sep – 1 Oct Dunlop Masters England Guy Hunt (1)
5–8 Oct Colgate World Match Play Championship England Graham Marsh (n/a) Approved special event
13–16 Oct Lancome Trophy France Graham Marsh (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 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.

PositionPlayerCountryPrize money (£)
1Seve Ballesteros Spain46,436
2Hugh Baiocchi South Africa32,251
3Antonio Garrido Spain21,581
4Manuel Piñero Spain26,569
5Bob Byman United States19,452
6Brian Barnes Scotland17,557
7Peter Dawson England17,583
8Nick Faldo England23,978
9Francisco Abreu Spain13,294
10Ángel Gallardo Spain14,765

Awards
AwardWinnerCountry
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearNick Faldo England

See also

References
  1. Corcoran, Michael (11 May 2010). Duel in the Sun. Simon and Schuster. p. 103.
  2. Foulger, Neville (23 December 1976). "Cash boost as top players chase rising pound!". Coventry Evening Telegraph. p. 29. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  4. Davies, David (21 December 1976). "European golf prizes top £1m". Birmingham Daily Post. p. 10. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "Golf". Liverpool Echo. 16 December 1976. p. 22. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "No Sumrie". Reading Evening Post. 20 April 1977. p. 26. Retrieved 12 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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