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1978 European Tour

Golf tour season

Field	Value
year	1978
tour	European Tour
regular_season	–
no_of_events	21
most_wins	ESP Seve Ballesteros (4)
honor1	Order of Merit
honoree1	ESP Seve Ballesteros
honor4	Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year
honoree4	SCO Sandy Lyle
prevseason	1977
nextseason	1979

The 1978 European Tour, titled as the 1978 PGA European Tournament Players' Division, was the seventh season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 1978

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Belgian Open, the B.A./Avis Open in Jersey, and the European Open Championship; the return of the Sumrie Better-Ball; and the loss of the Uniroyal International Championship, the Callers of Newcastle, and the Double Diamond team and individual events. In addition, the Kerrygold International was omitted from the schedule in 1978 due to the World Cup being held at Waterville. The Lancome Trophy, which clashed with the new European Open, was also missing.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1978 season.

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse
(£)	Winner	Notes
9 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$262,402	ZAF Gary Player (n/a)	Major championship
15 Apr	Portuguese Open	Portugal	25,000	ENG Howard Clark (1)
22 Apr	Spanish Open	Spain	30,000	SCO Brian Barnes (5)
29 Apr	Madrid Open	Spain	20,500	ENG Howard Clark (2)
7 May	Italian Open	Italy	27,700	ZAF Dale Hayes (2)
15 May	French Open	France	35,000	ZAF Dale Hayes (3)
21 May	Martini International	England	30,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (5)
29 May	Colgate PGA Championship	England	50,000	ENG Nick Faldo (2)
4 Jun	B.A./Avis Open	Jersey	20,000	WAL Brian Huggett (2)	New tournament
11 Jun	Belgian Open	Belgium	25,000	AUS Noel Ratcliffe (1)	New to European Tour
18 Jun	Greater Manchester Open	England	20,000	SCO Brian Barnes (6)
18 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$310,200	USA Andy North (n/a)	Major championship
1 Jul	Sun Alliance Match Play Championship	Scotland	40,000	ENG Mark James (1)
15 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	125,000	USA Jack Nicklaus (n/a)	Major championship
23 Jul	Dutch Open	Netherlands	30,300	USA Bob Byman (3)
30 Jul	Braun German Open	West Germany	30,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (6)
6 Aug	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	35,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (7)
6 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$300,000	USA John Mahaffey (n/a)	Major championship
12 Aug	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	50,000	USA Lee Trevino (n/a)
27 Aug	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	50,000	SCO Ken Brown (1)
3 Sep	Swiss Open	Switzerland	50,000	ESP Seve Ballesteros (8)
17 Sep	Tournament Players Championship	England	40,000	ENG Brian Waites (1)
7 Oct	Dunlop Masters	Wales	40,000	ENG Tommy Horton (4)
22 Oct	European Open Championship	England	105,000	USA Bobby Wadkins (n/a)	New tournament

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
24 Jun	Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball	England	20,000	IRL Eamonn Darcy and
IRL Christy O'Connor Jnr	Team event
10 Sep	Donald Swaelens Memorial Tournament	Belgium	n/a	ENG Nick Faldo	Limited-field event
23 Sep	Hennessy Cognac Cup	France	n/a	GBRIRL Team GB&I	Team event
15 Oct	Cacharel World Under-25 Championship	France	n/a	CAN Jim Nelford
15 Oct	Colgate World Match Play Championship	England	130,000	JPN Isao Aoki	Limited-field event
22 Oct	Trophée Lancôme	France	50,000	USA Lee Trevino	Limited-field event
3 Dec	World Cup	United States	n/a	USA John Mahaffey and
USA Andy North	Team event
World Cup Individual Trophy	USA John Mahaffey

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.

Position	Player	Points	Prize money (£)
1	ESP Seve Ballesteros	47,178	54,348
2	ZAF Dale Hayes	30,205	43,891
3	ENG Nick Faldo	28,496	37,912
4	SCO Ken Brown	24,929	29,843
5	ENG Howard Clark	24,474	32,739
6	ENG Neil Coles	23,151	30,348
7	ENG Mark James	19,020	27,861
8	SCO Brian Barnes	18,105	23,386
9	SCO Bernard Gallacher	17,715	21,812
10	ENG Tommy Horton	16,265	18,007

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	SCO Sandy Lyle

Notes

References

"Tour History". European Tour.
Jacobs, Raymond. (20 December 1977). "Our golf scene goes European". Glasgow Herald.
Foulger, Neville. (29 December 1977). "Faldo carries British hopes against hefty continental challenge". Coventry Evening Telegraph.
(28 April 1978). "Golf pros banned from tourney". Aberdeen Press and Journal.
"1978 Tournament schedule". European Tour.
Simms, George. (1979). "World of Golf 1979". Macdonald and Jane's.
(January 1979). "Europa-touren-78".
(3 November 1978). "Ballesteros again". The Guardian.
Solomons, David. (7 October 1978). "Ace inspires Sandy in Masters". Evening Post.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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