1985 European Tour

The 1985 European Tour was the 14th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour.

1985 European Tour season
Duration18 April 1985 (1985-04-18) – 2 November 1985 (1985-11-02)
Number of official events26
Most wins4 – Seve Ballesteros
Order of MeritSandy Lyle
Golfer of the YearBernhard Langer
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearPaul Thomas
1984
1986

The Order of Merit was won by Scotland's Sandy Lyle, who won twice during the season including his first major, The Open Championship. Spain's Seve Ballesteros finished third on the money list despite recording four official tournament wins, including the French and Spanish Opens.

Rule changes

In 1985, the European Tour became "All-Exempt", meaning that for the first time tournaments did not have their own pre-qualifying rounds.[1][2] The final two rounds of all major tournaments were played as two-balls, having previously been three-balls.[3]

Schedule

The table below shows the 1985 European Tour schedule which was made up of 26 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and some non-counting "Approved Special Events".[4][5] There were several changes from the previous season, with the GSI L'Equipe Open replacing the Timex Open; the return of the British Masters[6] and the Bob Hope Classic, which was rebranded as the Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity; and the loss of the Tournament Players Championship and the Celtic International.

In addition, the Dunhill Cup, a new team event devised by Mark McCormack and held over the Old Course at St Andrews, was added to the schedule but did not count towards the Order of Merit; with a prize fund of US$1.2 million it was the richest tournament in the world, surpassing the Million Dollar Challenge in South Africa.[7]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[lower-alpha 1] Notes
11–14 Apr Masters Tournament United States Bernhard Langer (12) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
18–21 Apr Tunisian Open Tunisia Stephen Bennett (1)
25–28 Apr Cepsa Madrid Open Spain Manuel Piñero (8)
2–5 May Italian Open Italy Manuel Piñero (9)
9–12 May Car Care Plan International England David J. Russell (1)
16–19 May GSI L'Equipe Open France Mark James (7) New tournament
24–27 May Whyte & Mackay PGA Championship England Paul Way (2)
30 May – 2 Jun Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity England Ken Brown (4)
7–10 Jun Dunhill British Masters England Lee Trevino (2)
13–16 Jun U.S. Open United States Andy North (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
13–16 Jun Jersey Open Jersey Howard Clark (5)
20–23 Jun Carroll's Irish Open Republic of Ireland Seve Ballesteros (24)
28–30 Jun Johnnie Walker Monte Carlo Open Monaco Sam Torrance (11)
4–7 Jul Peugeot Open de France France Seve Ballesteros (25)
11–13 Jul Lawrence Batley International Golf Classic England Graham Marsh (9)
18–21 Jul The Open Championship England Sandy Lyle (11) Major championship
25–28 Jul KLM Dutch Open Netherlands Graham Marsh (10)
1–4 Aug Scandinavian Enterprise Open Sweden Ian Baker-Finch (1)
8–11 Aug PGA Championship United States Hubert Green (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
8–11 Aug Glasgow Open Scotland Howard Clark (6)
15–18 Aug Benson and Hedges International Open England Sandy Lyle (12)
22–25 Aug Lufthansa German Open West Germany Bernhard Langer (13)
29 Aug – 1 Sep Panasonic European Open England Bernhard Langer (14)
5–8 Sep Ebel European Masters Swiss Open Switzerland Craig Stadler (1)
13–15 Sept Ryder Cup England Europe Approved special event; team event
19–22 Sep Sanyo Open Spain Seve Ballesteros (26)
26–29 Sep Suntory World Match Play England Seve Ballesteros (n/a) Approved special event
3–6 Oct Lancome Trophy France Nick Price (2)
10–13 Oct Compagnie de Chauffe Cannes Open France Robert Lee (1)
17–20 Oct Dunhill Cup Scotland Australia New tournament; approved special event; team event
24–27 Oct Benson and Hedges Spanish Open Spain Seve Ballesteros (27)
30 Oct – 2 Nov Portuguese Open Portugal Warren Humphreys (1)
  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 "Approved Special Events" 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 prize money earned during the season and calculated in Pound sterling.

PositionPlayerCountryPrize money (£)
1Sandy Lyle Scotland162,553
2Bernhard Langer West Germany115,716
3Seve Ballesteros Spain103,042
4Ian Woosnam Wales82,235
5Sam Torrance Scotland79,567
6Howard Clark England79,386
7Manuel Piñero Spain71,116
8José María Cañizares Spain65,633
9Gordon Brand Jnr Scotland65,571
10Paul Way England63,097

Awards

AwardWinnerCountry
European Tour Golfer of the YearBernhard Langer West Germany
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearPaul Thomas Wales

See also

References

  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  2. Jacobs, Raymond (26 July 1984). "Satellite tour takes off". The Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, Scotland. p. 15. Retrieved 7 June 2020 via Google News Archive.
  3. "Sport in brief | Golf". The Guardian. London, England. 12 April 1985. p. 20. Retrieved 7 June 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Platts, Mitchell (22 November 1984). "A news world opens for European tour". The Times. London, England. p. 28. Retrieved 8 June 2020 via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. Davies, David (22 November 1984). "Pro tour offers £4m". The Guardian. London, England. p. 27. Retrieved 7 June 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  6. Davies, David (31 July 1984). "Masters comes to Woburn". The Guardian. London, England. p. 23. Retrieved 8 June 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  7. Platts, Mitchell; Ballantine, John (22 January 1985). "St Andrews to be host of first £1 million event". The Times. London, England. p. 25. Retrieved 8 June 2020 via The Times Digital Archive.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.