The 1985 European Tour was the 14th official season 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 wi ...

tournaments known as 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 fift ...

. The season was made up of 26 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and some non-counting "Approved Special Events". The Order of Merit 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 spen ...

, who won twice during the season including his first

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

. Spain's

Seve Ballesteros Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 inte ...

finished third on the money list despite recording four official tournament wins, including the French and Spanish Opens.

Changes for 1985

There were several changes from the previous season, with the GSI L'Equipe Open replacing the

Timex Open The Timex Open was a professional golf tournament. The tournament was held at Biarritz Golf Club in Biarritz, France. The tournament was originally a domestic event before transitioning into a European Tour event in 1983 and 1984. Winners Refer ...

; the return of the

British Masters The Betfred British Masters is a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently therea ...

and the Bob Hope Classic, which was rebranded as the

Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity The Bob Hope British Classic was the original and most often used name of a European Tour golf tournament which was played in England every year but one from 1980 to 1991. It had six different names in total. The English born American entertainer ...

; and the loss of the Tournament Players Championship and the

Celtic International The Celtic International was a professional golf tournament held at Galway Golf Club in Salthill, Galway, Republic of Ireland in 1984. It was an event on the European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorshi ...

. In addition, the

Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...

, a new team event devised by

Mark McCormack Mark Hume McCormack (November 6, 1930 – May 16, 2003) was an American lawyer, sports agent and writer. He was the founder and chairman of International Management Group, now IMG, an international management organization serving sports ...

and held over the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

, was added to the schedule but did not count towards the Order of Merit; with a prize fund of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.2 million it was the richest tournament in the world, surpassing the Million Dollar Challenge in South Africa.

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. The final two rounds of all major tournaments were played as two-balls, having previously been three-balls.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1985 season.

Unofficial events

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

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit 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 t ...

Awards

Notes

References

External links

1985 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 fift ...