1979 PGA Tour

The 1979 PGA Tour was the 64th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the 11th season since separating from the PGA of America.

1979 PGA Tour season

Duration	January 11, 1979 (1979-01-11) – October 28, 1979 (1979-10-28)
Number of official events	44
Most wins	Tom Watson (5)
Money list	Tom Watson
PGA Player of the Year	Tom Watson
Rookie of the Year	John Fought
← 1978 1980 →

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1979 season.^[1]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (US$)	Winner(s)[a]	Notes
Jan 14	Bob Hope Desert Classic	California	300,000	John Mahaffey (4)	Pro-Am
Jan 22	Phoenix Open	Arizona	250,000	Ben Crenshaw (6)
Jan 28	Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational	California	250,000	Fuzzy Zoeller (1)
Feb 4	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	California	300,000	Lon Hinkle (2)	Pro-Am
Feb 11	Hawaiian Open	Hawaii	300,000	Hubert Green (15)
Feb 18	Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open	Arizona	250,000	Bruce Lietzke (4)
Feb 25	Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open	California	250,000	Lanny Wadkins (6)
Mar 4	Bay Hill Citrus Classic	Florida	250,000	Bob Byman (1)
Mar 11	Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic	Florida	300,000	Larry Nelson (1)
Mar 18	Doral-Eastern Open	Florida	250,000	Mark McCumber (1)
Mar 25	Tournament Players Championship	Florida	440,000	Lanny Wadkins (7)	Special event
Apr 1	Sea Pines Heritage Classic	South Carolina	300,000	Tom Watson (14)	Invitational
Apr 8	Greater Greensboro Open	North Carolina	250,000	Raymond Floyd (11)
Apr 15	Masters Tournament	Georgia	299,625	Fuzzy Zoeller (2)	Major championship
Apr 15	Magnolia Classic	Mississippi	50,000	Bobby Walzel (n/a)	Second Tour[b]
Apr 22	MONY Tournament of Champions	California	300,000	Tom Watson (15)	Winners-only event
Apr 22	Tallahassee Open	Florida	100,000	Chi-Chi Rodríguez (8)	Alternate event
Apr 29	First NBC New Orleans Open	Louisiana	250,000	Hubert Green (16)
May 6	Houston Open	Texas	300,000	Wayne Levi (2)
May 13	Byron Nelson Golf Classic	Texas	300,000	Tom Watson (16)
May 20	Colonial National Invitation	Texas	300,000	Al Geiberger (11)	Invitational
May 27	Memorial Tournament	Ohio	300,000	Tom Watson (17)	Invitational
Jun 3	Kemper Open	North Carolina	350,000	Jerry McGee (3)
Jun 10	Atlanta Classic	Georgia	300,000	Andy Bean (5)
Jun 17	U.S. Open	Ohio	325,000	Hale Irwin (11)	Major championship
Jun 24	Canadian Open	Canada	350,000	Lee Trevino (24)
Jul 1	Danny Thomas Memphis Classic	Tennessee	300,000	Gil Morgan (4)
Jul 8	Western Open	Illinois	300,000	Larry Nelson (2)
Jul 15	Greater Milwaukee Open	Wisconsin	200,000	Calvin Peete (1)
Jul 21	The Open Championship	England	£155,000	Seve Ballesteros (2)	Major championship[c]
Jul 22	Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad Cities Open	Illinois	200,000	D. A. Weibring (1)	Alternate event
Jul 29	IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic	Pennsylvania	250,000	Lou Graham (4)
Aug 5	PGA Championship	Michigan	350,000	David Graham (4)	Major championship
Aug 12	Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open	Connecticut	300,000	Jerry McGee (4)
Aug 19	Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic	New York	400,000	Jack Renner (1)
Aug 26	Colgate Hall of Fame Classic	North Carolina	250,000	Tom Watson (18)
Sep 2	B.C. Open	New York	275,000	Howard Twitty (1)
Sep 9	American Optical Classic	Massachusetts	250,000	Lou Graham (5)
Sep 16	Buick-Goodwrench Open	Michigan	150,000	John Fought (1)
Sep 23	Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic	California	300,000	John Fought (2)
Sep 30	World Series of Golf	Ohio	400,000	Lon Hinkle (3)	Limited-field event
Oct 7	San Antonio Texas Open	Texas	250,000	Lou Graham (6)
Oct 14	Southern Open	Georgia	200,000	Ed Fiori (1)
Oct 21	Pensacola Open	Florida	200,000	Curtis Strange (1)
Oct 28	Walt Disney World National Team Championship	Florida	250,000	George Burns (1) and Ben Crenshaw (7)	Team event

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the PGA Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse ($)	Winner(s)	Notes
Sep 16	Ryder Cup	West Virginia	n/a	Team USA	Team event
Nov 11	World Cup	Greece	n/a	Hale Irwin and John Mahaffey	Team event
	World Cup Individual Trophy			Hale Irwin

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in U.S. dollars.^[2][3]

Position	Player	Prize money ($)
1	Tom Watson	462,636
2	Larry Nelson	281,022
3	Lon Hinkle	247,693
4	Lee Trevino	238,732
5	Ben Crenshaw	236,770
6	Bill Rogers	230,500
7	Andy Bean	208,253
8	Bruce Lietzke	198,439
9	Fuzzy Zoeller	196,951
10	Lanny Wadkins	195,710

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
PGA Player of the Year	Tom Watson	[4]
Rookie of the Year	John Fought	[5]
Scoring leader (Vardon Trophy)	Tom Watson	[6]

Notes

1. The number in parentheses after each winner's name is the number of PGA Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for PGA Tour members.
2. Official money; unofficial win.
3. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References

1. "1980 PGA Tour Media Guide" (PDF). PGA Tour. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
2. "Money leaders". Daily News. New York, New York. November 25, 1979. p. 484. Retrieved November 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Shriver, Jerry (October 14, 1979). "Watson Holds Off The Young Lions". Pensacola News Journal. Pensacola, Florida. p. 173. Retrieved November 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Tom Watson named PGA player of year". Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan. November 8, 1979. p. 75. Retrieved November 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "John Fought". Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 22, 2024. Then Fought not only made it to the PGA Tour, but he also was the 1979 Rookie of the Year, winning back-to-back events.
6. Greenberg, Don (November 1, 1979). "Watson Likes to Keep Things Elementary". The Miami Herald. Miami, Florida. p. 71. Retrieved November 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Official website