1976 PGA Tour

1976 PGA Tour season
Duration	January 8, 1976 – November 7, 1976
Number of official events	45
Most wins	Ben Crenshaw (3); Johnny Miller (3); Hubert Green (3)
Money list	Jack Nicklaus
PGA Player of the Year	Jack Nicklaus
	← 1975 1977 →

Last updated April 27, 2024

The 1976 PGA Tour was the 61st season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the eighth season since separating from the PGA of America.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1976 season.^[1]

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse (US$)	Winner(s)^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Notes
Jan 11	NBC Tucson Open	Arizona	200,000	Johnny Miller (16)
Jan 18	Phoenix Open	Arizona	200,000	Bob Gilder (1)
Jan 25	Bing Crosby National Pro-Am	California	185,000	Ben Crenshaw (2)	Pro-Am
Feb 1	Hawaiian Open	Hawaii	230,000	Ben Crenshaw (3)
Feb 8	Bob Hope Desert Classic	California	180,000	Johnny Miller (17)	Pro-Am
Feb 15	Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational	California	180,000	J. C. Snead (5)
Feb 22	Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open	California	185,000	Hale Irwin (6)
Mar 1	Tournament Players Championship	Florida	300,000	Jack Nicklaus (60)	Special event
Mar 7	Florida Citrus Open	Florida	200,000	Hale Irwin (7)
Mar 14	Doral-Eastern Open	Florida	200,000	Hubert Green (9)
Mar 21	Greater Jacksonville Open	Florida	175,000	Hubert Green (10)
Mar 28	Sea Pines Heritage Classic	South Carolina	215,000	Hubert Green (11)	Invitational
Apr 4	Greater Greensboro Open	North Carolina	230,000	Al Geiberger (8)
Apr 11	Masters Tournament	Georgia	200,000	Raymond Floyd (7)	Major championship
Apr 11	Magnolia Classic	Mississippi	35,000	Dennis Meyer (n/a)	Second Tour^{[lower-alpha 2]}
Apr 18	MONY Tournament of Champions	California	225,000	Don January (10)	Winners-only event
Apr 18	Tallahassee Open	Florida	80,000	Gary Koch (1)	Alternate event
Apr 25	First NBC New Orleans Open	Louisiana	175,000	Larry Ziegler (3)
May 2	Houston Open	Texas	200,000	Lee Elder (2)
May 9	Byron Nelson Golf Classic	Texas	200,000	Mark Hayes (1)
May 16	Colonial National Invitation	Texas	200,000	Lee Trevino (21)	Invitational
May 23	Danny Thomas Memphis Classic	Tennessee	200,000	Gibby Gilbert (2)
May 30	Memorial Tournament	Ohio	200,000	Roger Maltbie (3)	New tournament Invitational
Jun 6	IVB-Bicentennial Golf Classic	Pennsylvania	200,000	Tom Kite (1)
Jun 13	Kemper Open	North Carolina	250,000	Joe Inman (1)
Jun 20	U.S. Open	Georgia	210,000	Jerry Pate (1)	Major championship
Jun 27	Western Open	Illinois	200,000	Al Geiberger (9)
Jul 4	Greater Milwaukee Open	Wisconsin	130,000	Dave Hill (13)
Jul 10	The Open Championship	England	£75,000	Johnny Miller (18)	Major championship ^{[lower-alpha 3]}
Jul 11	Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad Cities Open	Illinois	100,000	John Lister (1)	Alternate event
Jul 18	American Express Westchester Classic	New York	300,000	David Graham (2)
Jul 25	Canadian Open	Canada	200,000	Jerry Pate (2)
Aug 1	Pleasant Valley Classic	Massachusetts	200,000	Buddy Allin (5)
Aug 8	B.C. Open	New York	200,000	Bob Wynn (1)
Aug 16	PGA Championship	Maryland	250,000	Dave Stockton (10)	Major championship
Aug 22	Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open	Connecticut	210,000	Rik Massengale (2)
Aug 29	American Golf Classic	Ohio	200,000	David Graham (3)
Aug 29	Buick Open	Michigan	60,000	Ed Sabo (n/a)	Second Tour^{[lower-alpha 2]}
Sep 5	World Series of Golf	Ohio	400,000	Jack Nicklaus (61)	Upgraded to official event Limited-field event
Sep 12	World Open Golf Championship	North Carolina	200,000	Raymond Floyd (8)
Sep 19	Ohio Kings Island Open	Ohio	150,000	Ben Crenshaw (4)
Sep 26	Kaiser International Open Invitational	California	175,000	J. C. Snead (6)
Oct 3	Sahara Invitational	Nevada	135,000	George Archer (12)
Oct 17	San Antonio Texas Open	Texas	125,000	Butch Baird (2)
Oct 24	Southern Open	Georgia	125,000	Mac McLendon (2)
Nov 1	Pensacola Open	Florida	125,000	Mark Hayes (2)
Nov 7	Walt Disney World National Team Championship	Florida	200,000	Woody Blackburn (1) and Billy Kratzert (1)	Team event

Unofficial events

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

Date	Tournament	Location	Purse ($)	Winner(s)	Notes
Dec 12	World Cup	California	4,200	Seve Ballesteros and Manuel Piñero	Team event
Dec 12	World Cup Individual Trophy	California	2,100	Ernesto Pérez Acosta

Money list

The money list was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in U.S. dollars.^[2]

Position	Player	Prize money ($)
1	Jack Nicklaus	266,438
2	Ben Crenshaw	257,759
3	Hale Irwin	252,718
4	Hubert Green	228,031
5	Al Geiberger	194,821
6	J. C. Snead	192,645
7	Raymond Floyd	178,318
8	David Graham	176,174
9	Don January	163,622
10	Jerry Pate	153,102

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
PGA Player of the Year	Jack Nicklaus	^[3]
Scoring leader (Vardon Trophy)	Don January	^[4]

Notes

↑ The number in parentheses after each winner's name is the number of PGA Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for PGA Tour members.
1 2 Official money; unofficial win.
↑ Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

References

↑ "1977 PGA Tour Media Guide" (PDF). PGA Tour. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
↑ "PGA Money leaders" . The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. December 26, 1976. p. 92. Retrieved November 7, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
↑ Green, Bob (December 26, 1976). "Nicklaus wins player of year, not major events" . Great Falls Tribune. Great Falls, Montana. p. 17. Retrieved November 7, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
↑ Greene, Jerry (December 23, 1976). "Golf" . The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida. p. 78 (3-C in paper). Retrieved November 7, 2023– via Newspapers.com.

External links

Official website

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[2] The number in parentheses after each winner's name is the number of PGA Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for PGA Tour members.

[alt-3] 1 2 Official money; unofficial win.

[unofficial-4] Unofficial money event at the time, but retrospectively counted as an official win.

[1] "1977 PGA Tour Media Guide" (PDF). PGA Tour. Retrieved November 7, 2023.

[5] "PGA Money leaders" . The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. December 26, 1976. p. 92. Retrieved November 7, 2023– via Newspapers.com.

[6] Green, Bob (December 26, 1976). "Nicklaus wins player of year, not major events" . Great Falls Tribune. Great Falls, Montana. p. 17. Retrieved November 7, 2023– via Newspapers.com.

[7] Greene, Jerry (December 23, 1976). "Golf" . The Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida. p. 78 (3-C in paper). Retrieved November 7, 2023– via Newspapers.com.

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