The 1981 European Tour was the tenth official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour and organised by the Professional Golfers' Association.
The Order of Merit was won by West Germany's Bernhard Langer.
Schedule
The table below shows the 1981 European Tour schedule which was made up of 24 tournaments, which included the major national opens around Europe. The other tournaments were mostly held in England, Wales and Scotland. There were several changes from the previous season, with the addition of the Lawrence Batley International, the Suntory World Match Play and the Lancome Trophy, and the loss of the Newcastle Brown "900" Open and the Merseyside International Open.
Order of Merit
The PGA European Tour's money list was known as the "Order of Merit". For the first time it was based on prize money earned during the season having previously been calculated by means of a points system.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bernhard Langer |  West Germany |
81,036 |
| 2 | Nick Faldo |  England |
48,109 |
| 3 | Sandy Lyle |  Scotland |
44,732 |
| 4 | Greg Norman |  Australia |
44,254 |
| 5 | Manuel Piñero |  Spain |
39,640 |
| 6 | Sam Torrance | Scotland |
36,012 |
| 7 | Severiano Ballesteros | Spain |
35,154 |
| 8 | Des Smyth |  Ireland |
29,105 |
| 9 | Eamonn Darcy | Ireland |
25,805 |
| 10 | José Maria Cañizares | Spain |
25,529 |