1985 European Tour

1985 European Tour season

Duration	11 April 1985 (1985-04-11) – 2 November 1985 (1985-11-02)
Number of official events	26
Most wins	Seve Ballesteros (4)
Order of Merit	Sandy Lyle
Golfer of the Year	Bernhard Langer
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Paul Thomas
← 1984 1986 →

The 1985 European Tour, titled as the 1985 PGA European Tour, ^[1] was the 14th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 1985

The season was made up of 26 tournaments counting for the Order of Merit, and some non-counting "Approved Special Events". ^{[2] [3]}

There were several changes from the previous season, with the GSI L'Equipe Open replacing the Timex Open; the return of the British Masters ^[4] and the Bob Hope Classic, which was rebranded as the Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity; and the loss of the Tournament Players Championship and the Celtic International.

In addition, the Dunhill Cup, a new team event devised by Mark McCormack and held over the Old Course at St Andrews, was added to the schedule but did not count towards the Order of Merit; with a prize fund of US$ 1,200,000 it was the richest tournament in the world, surpassing the Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge in South Africa. ^[5]

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. ^{[1] [6]} The final two rounds of all major tournaments were played as two-balls, having previously been three-balls. ^[7]

Order of Merit name change

In April, it was announced that Epson would take over the title sponsorship of the Order of Merit from Sperry Corporation, being renamed as the Epson Order of Merit. ^[8]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 1985 season. ^[9]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner [lower-alpha 1]	Notes
14 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$700,000	Bernhard Langer (12)	Major championship [lower-alpha 2]
21 Apr	Tunisian Open	Tunisia	70,000	Stephen Bennett (1)
28 Apr	Cepsa Madrid Open	Spain	100,000	Manuel Piñero (8)
5 May	Italian Open	Italy	85,000	Manuel Piñero (9)
12 May	Car Care Plan International	England	110,000	David J. Russell (1)
19 May	GSI L'Equipe Open	France	75,000	Mark James (7)	New tournament
27 May	Whyte & Mackay PGA Championship	England	180,000	Paul Way (2)
2 Jun	Four Stars National Pro-Celebrity	England	140,000	Ken Brown (4)	Pro-Am
10 Jun	Dunhill British Masters	England	200,000	Lee Trevino (n/a)
16 Jun	Jersey Open	Jersey	75,000	Howard Clark (5)
16 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$650,000	Andy North (n/a)	Major championship [lower-alpha 2]
23 Jun	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	120,000	Seve Ballesteros (24)
30 Jun	Johnnie Walker Monte Carlo Open	France	125,000	Sam Torrance (11)
7 Jul	Peugeot Open de France	France	80,000	Seve Ballesteros (25)
13 Jul	Lawrence Batley International Golf Classic	England	120,000	Graham Marsh (9)
21 Jul	The Open Championship	England	530,000	Sandy Lyle (11)	Major championship
28 Jul	KLM Dutch Open	Netherlands	120,000	Graham Marsh (10)
4 Aug	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	130,000	Ian Baker-Finch (1)
11 Aug	Glasgow Open	Scotland	90,000	Howard Clark (6)
11 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$700,000	Hubert Green (n/a)	Major championship [lower-alpha 2]
18 Aug	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	150,000	Sandy Lyle (12)
25 Aug	Lufthansa German Open	West Germany	100,000	Bernhard Langer (13)
1 Sep	Panasonic European Open	England	200,000	Bernhard Langer (14)
8 Sep	Ebel European Masters Swiss Open	Switzerland	190,000	Craig Stadler (n/a)
22 Sep	Sanyo Open	Spain	120,000	Seve Ballesteros (26)
6 Oct	Trophée Lancôme	France	120,000	Nick Price (2)	Limited-field event
13 Oct	Compagnie de Chauffe Cannes Open	France	80,000	Robert Lee (1)
27 Oct	Benson & Hedges Spanish Open	Spain	85,000	Seve Ballesteros (27)
2 Nov	Portuguese Open	Portugal	65,000	Warren Humphreys (1)

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
15 Sep	Ryder Cup	England	n/a	Team Europe	Team event
29 Sep	Suntory World Match Play Championship	England	180,000	Seve Ballesteros	Limited-field event
20 Oct	Dunhill Cup	Scotland	US$1,200,000	Team Australia	New tournament Team event
24 Nov	World Cup	United States	US$743,000	Dave Barr and Dan Halldorson	Team event
	World Cup Individual Trophy			Howard Clark

Order of Merit

The Order of Merit was titled as the Epson Order of Merit and was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Pound sterling. ^[10]

Position	Player	Prize money (£)
1	Sandy Lyle	162,553
2	Bernhard Langer	115,716
3	Seve Ballesteros	103,042
4	Ian Woosnam	82,235
5	Sam Torrance	79,567
6	Howard Clark	79,386
7	Manuel Piñero	71,116
8	José María Cañizares	65,633
9	Gordon Brand Jnr	65,571
10	Paul Way	63,097

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Bernhard Langer	[11]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Paul Thomas	[12]

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.

References

1. "Tour History". European Tour. Archived from the original on 4 April 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
2. Platts, Mitchell (22 November 1984). "A news world opens for European tour" . The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 28. Retrieved 8 June 2020– via The Times Digital Archive.
3. Davies, David (22 November 1984). "Pro tour offers £4m" . The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. p. 27. Retrieved 7 June 2020– via Newspapers.com.
4. Davies, David (31 July 1984). "Masters comes to Woburn" . The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. p. 23. Retrieved 8 June 2020– via Newspapers.com.
5. Platts, Mitchell; Ballantine, John (22 January 1985). "St Andrews to be host of first £1 million event" . The Times. London, United Kingdom. p. 25. Retrieved 8 June 2020– via The Times Digital Archive.
6. Jacobs, Raymond (26 July 1984). "Satellite tour takes off". The Glasgow Herald. Glasgow, United Kingdom. p. 15. Retrieved 7 June 2020– via Google News Archive.
7. "Sport in brief | Golf" . The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. 12 April 1985. p. 20. Retrieved 7 June 2020– via Newspapers.com.
8. Davies, David (24 April 1985). "Match play gap filled" . The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. p. 25. Retrieved 21 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
9. "1985 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
10. "Aces high" . Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Huddersfield, United Kingdom. 9 November 1985. p. 25. Retrieved 21 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Langer golfer of year" . Evening Post. Nottingham, United Kingdom. 11 December 1985. p. 25. Retrieved 21 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
12. "Paul pips his pal in cash race" . Manchester Evening News. Manchester, United Kingdom. 12 November 1985. p. 45. Retrieved 21 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Official website