1976 European Tour

The season was made up of 21 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 the other tournaments mostly held in England and Scotland.^[2]

There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Greater Manchester Open and the Uniroyal International;^[3] along with non-counting events the Cacharel World Under-25 Championship and the Lancome Trophy; and the Benson & Hedges Festival being retitled as the Benson & Hedges International Open.

The following table lists official events during the 1976 season.^[4][5]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse (£)	Winner[a]	Notes
11 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$254,852	Raymond Floyd (n/a)	Major championship[b]
17 Apr	Portuguese Open	Portugal	15,000	Salvador Balbuena (1)
24 Apr	Spanish Open	Spain	30,525	Eddie Polland (3)
1 May	Madrid Open	Spain	18,500	Francisco Abreu (2)
9 May	French Open	France	22,200	Vincent Tshabalala (1)
15 May	Piccadilly Medal	England	40,000	Sam Torrance (1)
31 May	Penfold PGA Championship	England	50,000	Neil Coles (5)
6 Jun	Kerrygold International Classic	Ireland	12,500	Tony Jacklin (5)
12 Jun	Martini International	England	15,000	Sam Torrance (2)
20 Jun	Greater Manchester Open	England	12,000	John O'Leary (1)	New to European Tour
20 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$259,000	Jerry Pate (n/a)	Major championship[b]
26 Jun	Uniroyal International	England	25,000	Tommy Horton (3)	New tournament
10 Jul	The Open Championship	England	75,000	Johnny Miller (n/a)	Major championship
18 Jul	Scandinavian Enterprise Open	Sweden	38,600	Hugh Baiocchi (3)
25 Jul	Swiss Open	Switzerland	31,300	Manuel Piñero (2)
8 Aug	Dutch Open	Netherlands	26,205	Seve Ballesteros (1)
15 Aug	German Open	West Germany	23,100	Simon Hobday (1)
15 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$250,000	Dave Stockton (n/a)	Major championship[b]
18 Aug	Double Diamond Individual Championship	Scotland	10,000	Simon Owen (2)
29 Aug	Carroll's Irish Open	Ireland	35,000	Ben Crenshaw (n/a)
5 Sep	Sun Alliance Match Play Championship	England	20,000	Brian Barnes (4)
25 Sep	Benson & Hedges International Open	England	40,000	Graham Marsh (4)
2 Oct	Dunlop Masters	Wales	30,000	Baldovino Dassù (1)
24 Oct	Italian Open	Italy	27,000	Baldovino Dassù (2)

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
22 May	Sumrie-Bournemouth Better-Ball	England	12,000	Eamonn Darcy and Christy O'Connor Jnr	Team event
5 Jun	Cacharel World Under-25 Championship	France	n/a	Eamonn Darcy	New tournament
3 Jul	Phillip Morris International	France	n/a	Team USA	Team event
21 Aug	Double Diamond International	Scotland	25,000	Team England	Team event
18 Sep 17 Jul	T.P.D. Under-25 Championship	England	5,000	Howard Clark
9 Oct	Piccadilly World Match Play Championship	England	75,000	David Graham	Limited-field event
17 Oct	Trophée Lancôme	France	US$40,000	Seve Ballesteros	New to European Tour
12 Dec	World Cup	United States	US$4,200	Seve Ballesteros and Manuel Piñero	Team event
	World Cup Individual Trophy		US$2,100	Ernesto Pérez Acosta

The Order of Merit was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.^[5][6][7]

Position	Player	Points	Prize money (£)
1	Seve Ballesteros	21,495	39,504
2	Eamonn Darcy	16,741	25,027
3	Sam Torrance	16,627	20,917
4	Manuel Piñero	16,474	19,946
5	Tommy Horton	16,185	22,781
6	Neil Coles	15,976	20,543
7	Martin Foster	12,669	17,436
8	Brian Barnes	12,256	23,350
9	Baldovino Dassù	11,961	13,405
10	Simon Hobday	11,893	15,196