1973 European Tour

The 1973 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tournament circuit. It is officially recognised as the second season of the PGA European Tour.

1973 European Tour season
Duration28 March 1972 (1972-03-28) – 13 October 1972 (1972-10-13)
Number of official events21
Most wins3 – Peter Oosterhuis
Order of MeritPeter Oosterhuis
Leading money winnerTony Jacklin
Sir Henry Cotton
rookie of the year		Pip Elson
← 1972
1974 →

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 1973 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 three changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Portuguese Open and the Scandinavian Enterprise Open, and the loss of the John Player Trophy.[3]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[lower-alpha 1] Notes
28–31 Mar Madrid Open Spain Germán Garrido (1)
4–7 Apr Portuguese Open Portugal Jaime Benito (1) New tournament to the circuit
5–8 Apr Masters Tournament United States Tommy Aaron (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
11–14 Apr Spanish Open Spain Neil Coles (2)
18–21 Apr Italian Open Italy Tony Jacklin (2)
25–28 Apr Piccadilly Medal England Peter Oosterhuis (2)
10–12 May Penfold-Bournemouth Tournament England Eddie Polland (1)
16–19 May Sumrie Better-Ball England Neil Coles (n/a) &
Bernard Hunt (n/a)		 Pairs event; not counting for the Order of Merit[lower-alpha 1]
23–26 May Benson & Hedges Match Play Championship England Neil Coles (3)
31 May – 3 Jun French Open France Peter Oosterhuis (3)
6–9 Jun Martini International Scotland Maurice Bembridge (1)
14–16 Jun Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship England Bernard Gallacher (n/a) Approved special event
14–17 Jun U.S. Open United States Johnny Miller (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
21–24 Jun Carroll's International Republic of Ireland Paddy McGuirk (1)
27–30 Jun Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open Scotland Graham Marsh (3)
11–14 Jul The Open Championship Scotland Tom Weiskopf (n/a) Major championship
19–22 Jul Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Bob Charles (3) New tournament
26–29 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland Hugh Baiocchi (1)
2–5 Aug German Open West Germany Francisco Abreu (1)
8–12 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands Doug McClelland (1)
9–12 Aug PGA Championship United States Jack Nicklaus (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
15–18 Aug Benson & Hedges Festival England Vin Baker (1)
22–25 Aug Viyella PGA Championship England Peter Oosterhuis (4)
30 Aug – 1 Sep Double Diamond International England Scotland Approved special event; team event
5–8 Sep W.D. & H.O. Wills Tournament England Charles Coody (n/a)
20–22 Sept Ryder Cup Scotland United States Approved special event; team event
26–29 Sep John Player Classic Scotland Charles Coody (n/a)
3–6 Oct Dunlop Masters Wales Tony Jacklin (3)
11–13 Oct Piccadilly World Match Play England Gary Player (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.[4]

PositionPlayerCountryPointsPrize money (£)
1Peter Oosterhuis England3,440.4217,455
2Maurice Bembridge England2,980.1410,773
3Hugh Baiocchi South Africa2,904.3511,870
4Dale Hayes South Africa2,736.0710,188
5Brian Barnes Scotland2,675.629,778
6Eddie Polland Northern Ireland2,635.258,146
7Tony Jacklin England24,840
8Bernard Gallacher Scotland8,676
9Neil Coles England14,748
10Jack Newton Australia7,939

Awards
AwardWinnerCountry
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearPip Elson England

See also

References
  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  2. "£½m. to be won on PGA circuit". Glasgow Herald. 19 January 1973. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  3. Rodney, Bob (26 January 1973). "Top two for Player Classic". Daily Mirror. p. 27. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "Oosty ahead of Bembridge". Birmingham Daily Post. 13 October 1973. p. 21. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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