1981 European Tour

The 1981 European Tour, titled as the 1981 PGA European Golf Tour,^[1] was the 10th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

1981 European Tour season

Duration	9 April 1981 (1981-04-09) – 4 October 1981 (1981-10-04)
Number of official events	22
Most wins	Seve Ballesteros (2) Bernhard Langer (2) Sandy Lyle (2) Greg Norman (2) Manuel Piñero (2)
Official money list	Bernhard Langer
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Jeremy Bennett
← 1980 1982 →

Changes for 1981

The season was made up of 22 tournaments counting for the Official money list, and some non-counting tournaments later known as "Approved Special Events".^[2][3]

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Lawrence Batley International,^[4] and the loss of the Newcastle Brown "900" Open and the Merseyside International Open.

Rule changes

The local rule that had been introduced on the tour in 1976 which allowed spike marks to be repaired was rescinded, and a local rule that prohibited touching of the line of a putt with a club was introduced.^[3]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1981 season.^[5]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner[a]	Notes
12 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$365,000	Tom Watson (5)	Major championship[b]
26 Apr	Madrid Open	Spain	37,500	Manuel Piñero (5)
3 May	Italian Open	Italy	45,000	José María Cañizares (4)
10 May	Paco Rabanne Open de France	France	37,500	Sandy Lyle (5)
17 May	Martini International	England	65,000	Greg Norman (5)
25 May	Sun Alliance PGA Championship	England	70,000	Nick Faldo (4)
31 May	Dunlop Masters	England	75,000	Greg Norman (6)
7 Jun	Lawrence Batley International	England	60,000	Sandy Lyle (6)	New tournament
14 Jun	Cold Shield Greater Manchester Open	England	40,000	Bernard Gallacher (7)
21 Jun	Billy Butlin Jersey Open	Jersey	45,000	Tony Jacklin (7)
21 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$360,000	David Graham (n/a)	Major championship[b]
28 Jun	Coral Classic	Wales	40,000	Des Smyth (4)
5 Jul	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	50,000	Seve Ballesteros (15)
11 Jul	State Express Classic	England	65,000	Rodger Davis (1)
19 Jul	The Open Championship	England	200,000	Bill Rogers (n/a)	Major championship
26 Jul	KLM Dutch Open	Netherlands	40,000	Harold Henning (1)
2 Aug	German Open	West Germany	40,000	Bernhard Langer (2)
9 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$400,000	Larry Nelson (n/a)	Major championship[b]
16 Aug	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	80,000	Sam Torrance (3)
23 Aug	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	90,000	Tom Weiskopf (1)
30 Aug	Swiss Open	Switzerland	55,000	Manuel Piñero (6)
6 Sep	Dixcel Tissues European Open	England	105,000	Graham Marsh (8)
13 Sep	Haig Whisky TPC	Scotland	60,000	Brian Barnes (9)
27 Sep	Bob Hope British Classic	England	90,000	Bernhard Langer (3)	Pro-Am
4 Oct	Benson & Hedges Spanish Open	Spain	50,000	Seve Ballesteros (16)

Unofficial events

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

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner(s)	Notes
20 Sep	Ryder Cup	England	n/a	Team USA	Team event
11 Oct	Suntory World Match Play Championship	England	100,000	Seve Ballesteros	Limited-field event
18 Oct	Trophée Lancôme	France	45,000	David Graham
25 Oct	Cacharel World Under-25 Championship	France	n/a	Tim Simpson

Official money list

The official money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Pound sterling.^[6]

Position	Player	Prize money (£)
1	Bernhard Langer	81,036
2	Nick Faldo	48,108
3	Sandy Lyle	44,732
4	Greg Norman	44,254
5	Manuel Piñero	39,640
6	Sam Torrance	36,012
7	Seve Ballesteros	35,154
8	Des Smyth	29,105
9	Eamonn Darcy	25,805
10	José María Cañizares	25,529

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Jeremy Bennett	[7]

Notes

1. The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of European Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for European Tour members and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998, with earlier editions having retrospectively been recognised as official tour wins.
2. Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.