1972 European Tour

The 1972 European Tour was a series of golf tournaments that comprised the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) tournament circuit. It is officially recognised as the first season of the PGA European Tour.

1972 European Tour season
Duration12 April 1972 (1972-04-12) – 22 October 1972 (1972-10-22)
Number of official events20
Most wins2 – Bob Charles, Graham Marsh, Jack Newton
Order of MeritPeter Oosterhuis
Leading money winnerPeter Oosterhuis
Stroke average leaderPeter Oosterhuis
Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the yearSam Torrance
1973 →

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, who also led the standings in prize money and stroke average.[2]

Schedule

The table below shows the 1972 European Tour schedule which was made up of 20 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 and Scotland.[3]

There were several changes from the previous year's British PGA circuit schedule, with the inclusion of the Madrid Open, the Dutch Open and the Lancia d'Oro tournament; they joined the five national opens in continental Europe that were included in 1971.[4] Also added were the John Player Trophy and the Scottish Open, and the returning John Player Classic and Sumrie Better-Ball tournaments;[5] lost from the calendar were the Agfa-Gevaert Tournament, the Classic International, the Daks Tournament and the Gallaher Ulster Open.[3]

Dates Tournament Host country Winner[lower-alpha 1] Notes
6–9 Apr Masters Tournament United States Jack Nicklaus (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
12–15 Apr Spanish Open Spain Antonio Garrido (1)
19–22 Apr Madrid Open Spain Jimmy Kinsella (1) New tournament to the circuit
24–27 Apr Piccadilly Medal England Tommy Horton (1)
11–13 May Penfold-Bournemouth Tournament England Peter Oosterhuis (1)
17–20 May Sumrie Better-Ball England Malcolm Gregson (n/a) &
Brian Huggett (n/a)		 Pairs event; not counting for the Order of Merit[lower-alpha 1]
25–27 May John Player Trophy England Ross Whitehead (1)
1–3 Jun Coca-Cola Young Professionals' Championship England Peter Oosterhuis (n/a) Approved special event[lower-alpha 1]
8–10 Jun Martini International England Brian Barnes (1)
17–20 Jun U.S. Open United States Jack Nicklaus (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
22–25 Jun Carroll's International Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr (1)
28 Jun – 1 Jul Sunbeam Electric Scottish Open Scotland Neil Coles (1)
12–15 Jul The Open Championship Scotland Lee Trevino (n/a) Major championship
20–23 Jul French Open France Barry Jaeckel (1)
27–30 Jul Swiss Open Switzerland Graham Marsh (1)
3–6 Aug PGA Championship United States Gary Player (n/a) Major championship; non-tour event[lower-alpha 1]
3–6 Aug German Open West Germany Graham Marsh (2)
10–13 Aug Dutch Open Netherlands Jack Newton (1) New tournament to the circuit
16–19 Aug Benson & Hedges Festival England Jack Newton (2)
23–26 Aug Viyella PGA Championship England Tony Jacklin (1)
31 Aug – 2 Sep Double Diamond International England England Approved special event; team event
11–16 Sep Benson & Hedges Match Play Championship England John Garner (1)
20–23 Sep W.D. & H.O. Wills Tournament Scotland Peter Thomson (1)
27–30 Sep John Player Classic Scotland Bob Charles (1)
4–7 Oct Dunlop Masters England Bob Charles (2)
12–14 Oct Piccadilly World Match Play England Tom Weiskopf (n/a) Approved special event[lower-alpha 1]
12–15 Oct Italian Open Italy Norman Wood (1)
19–22 Oct Lancia d'Oro Italy José María Cañizares (1) New tournament to the circuit
  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.[2]

PositionPlayerCountryPointsPrize money (£)
1Peter Oosterhuis England175118,525
2Guy Hunt England17109,808
3Brian Huggett Wales170210,166
4Peter Townsend England16398,592
5Jack Newton Australia16368,899
6John Garner England16168,005
7Peter Butler England16138,375
8Brian Barnes Scotland16029,103
9Neil Coles England15978,629
10Clive Clark England15755,831

Awards
AwardWinnerCountry
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the YearSam Torrance Scotland

See also

References
  1. "Tour History". PGA European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010.
  2. Ryde, Peter (11 November 1972). "A man of supreme merit". The Times. p. 6. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  3. "Nearly £500,000 prize-money in British season". Glasgow Herald. 5 January 1972. p. 4. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  4. "Extra £32,000 at stake for Britons". The Times. 7 December 1971. p. 10. Retrieved 24 February 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  5. Dunn, Alan (23 February 1972). "New season enlivened". The Guardian. p. 22. Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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