The 1979 European Tour was a series of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) European Tournament Players' Division (ETPD) run ''PGA European Golf Tour''. It was the first time the circuit carried the ''European Tour'' name and is officially recognised as the eighth season of the

PGA European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fif ...

. 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, and adopted the title ''PGA European Golf Tour'' for the 1979 season. Also for the first time in 1979, players from continental Europe were eligible for the Ryder Cup. The season was made up of 23 tournaments counting for the official money list, and some non-counting tournaments that later became known as "Approved Special Events". It included the major national opens around Europe, with the other tournaments mostly being held in England, Wales and Scotland. The official money list was won by Scotland's

Sandy Lyle Alexander Walter Barr Lyle (born 9 February 1958) is a Scottish professional golfer. Lyle has won two major championships during his career. Along with Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, he became one of Britain's top golfers during the 1980s. He spe ...

Changes for 1979

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Welsh Golf Classic and Lada English Golf Classic. A new team event was also planned for France, replacing the

Sumrie Better-Ball The Sumrie Better-Ball was a professional golf tournament played from 1969 to 1978. It was a 72-hole better-ball stroke-play event. It was played at Pannal in 1969 and 1970 and then at Blairgowrie in 1972 and 1973. From 1974 it was called the Sum ...

, but it was not held. The tour's money list was retitled as the "Official Money List", having previously been known as the "Order of Merit".

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1979 season.

Unofficial events

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

Official money list

The official money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in

Pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and ...

Awards

Notes

References

External links

1979 season results on the PGA European Tour website
{{European Tour Seasons European Tour seasons

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...