1975 European Tour

The 1975 European Tour, titled as the 1975 PGA Tournament Players' Section,^[1] was the fourth season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

1975 European Tour season

Duration	8 April 1975 (1975-04-08) – 19 October 1975 (1975-10-19)
Number of official events	19
Most wins	George Burns (2)[a] Bob Shearer (2)
Order of Merit	Dale Hayes
← 1974 1976 →

Changes for 1975

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Carroll's Irish Open, which replaced the Carroll's International and the Kerrygold International Classic; and the loss of the Penfold Tournament, the W.D. & H.O. Wills Tournament and the El Paraiso Open. Following the withdrawal of sponsors, Lord Derby's Young Professionals' Tournament and the Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship were also lost from the schedule, the PGA ultimately decided to sponsor an under-25's event themselves.^[2]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1975 season.^[3][4][5][6]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner[b]	Notes
11 Apr	Portuguese Open	Portugal	15,000	Hal Underwood (1)
13 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$242,750	Jack Nicklaus (n/a)	Major championship[c]
19 Apr	Spanish Open	Spain	30,000	Arnold Palmer (n/a)
26 Apr	Madrid Open	Spain	18,000	Bob Shearer (1)
4 May	French Open	France	18,610	Brian Barnes (3)
10 May	Piccadilly Medal	England	15,000	Bob Shearer (2)
26 May	Penfold PGA Championship	England	50,000	Arnold Palmer (n/a)
14 Jun	Martini International	England	12,000	Christy O'Connor Jnr (1) Ian Stanley (1)	Title shared[7]
23 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$236,200	Lou Graham (n/a)	Major championship[c]
12 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	75,000	Tom Watson (1)	Major championship
20 Jul	Swiss Open	Switzerland	25,000	Dale Hayes (1)
27 Jul	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	32,500	George Burns (1)
3 Aug	German Open	West Germany	15,000	Maurice Bembridge (5)
10 Aug	Dutch Open	Netherlands	17,500	Hugh Baiocchi (2)
10 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$225,000	Jack Nicklaus (n/a)	Major championship[c]
16 Aug	Benson & Hedges Festival of Golf	England	25,000	Vicente Fernández (1)
31 Aug	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	25,000	Christy O'Connor Jnr (2)	New to European Tour
6 Sep	Sun Alliance Match Play Championship	England	20,000	Eddie Polland (2)
14 Sep	Kerrygold International Classic	Ireland	10,000	George Burns (2)	New tournament
24 Sep	Double Diamond Strokeplay	Scotland	10,000	Peter Dawson (1)
4 Oct	Dunlop Masters	England	20,000	Bernard Gallacher (3)
19 Oct	Italian Open	Italy	20,000	Billy Casper (n/a)

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
17 May	Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball	England	12,000	Jack Newton and John O'Leary	Team event
20 Sep	T.P.D. Young Professionals' Championship	England	5,000	Dale Hayes
21 Sep	Ryder Cup	United States	n/a	Team USA	Team event
27 Sep	Double Diamond International	Scotland	15,000	The Americas	Team event
11 Oct	Piccadilly World Match Play Championship	England	30,000	Hale Irwin	Limited-field event
7 Dec	World Cup	Thailand	US$4,200	Lou Graham and Johnny Miller	Team event
	World Cup Individual Trophy		US$2,100	Johnny Miller

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.^[4][8][9]

Position	Player	Points	Prize money (£)
1	Dale Hayes	17,488	20,508
2	Bob Shearer	13,921	16,040
3	Eamonn Darcy	11,988	14,846
4	Brian Barnes	10,491	13,492
5	Bernard Gallacher	9,996	12,040
6	Hugh Baiocchi	9,064	9,631
7	Christy O'Connor Jnr	8,690	11,979
8	Jack Newton	8,632	16,394
9	Vicente Fernández	8,264	10,109
10	Neil Coles	8,238	11,770

Notes

1. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer also won two events, but were not European Tour members.
2. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of European Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for European Tour members and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998, with earlier editions having retrospectively been recognised as official tour wins.
3. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References

1. "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
2. Ward-Thomas, Pat (25 February 1975). "The big hitters checked". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. p. 25. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "1975 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
4. Simms, George (1976). John Player Golf Yearbook 1976. Queen Anne Press. pp. 76–126. ISBN 0362002576.
5. Ward-Thomas, Pat (18 December 1974). "Sun boost to £629,000". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. p. 23. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Jacobs, Raymond (18 December 1974). "Golf prize fund is only slightly down". Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, United Kingdom. p. 3. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
7. Jacobs, Raymond (16 June 1975). "Two stroke it rich in Martini". Glasgow Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
8. "Hayes tops merit table". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Aberdeen, United Kingdom. 11 November 1975. p. 20. Retrieved 14 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Penningligan-75: Europa" [Money list-75: Europe]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 1. January 1976. p. 26. Retrieved 21 October 2023.

External links

• Official website