The John Player Classic was the richest

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 ...

tournament in Britain between 1970 and 1973. In 1972 and 1973 it was an event on the fledgling

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 ...

. The John Player Classic was first played in 1970 at Notts Golf Club (Hollinwell), when Ireland's

Christy O'Connor Snr Patrick Christopher "Christy" O'Connor (21 December 1924 – 14 May 2016) was an Irish professional golfer. He was one of the leading golfers on the British and Irish circuit from the mid-1950s. O'Connor won over 20 important British and Irish ...

triumphed by one stroke over England's

Tony Jacklin Anthony Jacklin CBE (born 7 July 1944) is a retired English golfer. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also Ryder Cup captai ...

to collect the £25,000 first prize. Having not been held in 1971, the tournament returned as part of the new European Tour in 1972. It also had a change of venue, being moved to Turnberry on the west coast of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The tournament was played just once more, in 1973, when American

Charles Coody Billy Charles Coody (born July 13, 1937) is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the 1971 Masters Tournament. Coody was born in Stamford, Texas and raised in Abilene, Texas. He attended Abilene Christian University before tran ...

took the title. The second round featured some of the worst conditions ever seen in a professional golf tournament, with a gale-force wind gusting up to 65 mph, and rain falling horizontally. Marquees and hoardings were destroyed, with several exhibitors tents being uprooted and flung onto the course. It was cancelled the following year because of a clash of dates with the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

's Kaiser International Open Invitational.

Winners

References

External links

Coverage on the European Tour's official site
{{Former European Tour Events Former European Tour events Golf tournaments in the United Kingdom 1970 establishments in Scotland Recurring sporting events established in 1970 1973 disestablishments in England Recurring events disestablished in 1973