1981 Ladies European Tour

1981 Ladies European Tour season
DurationMay 1981 (1981-05) – October 1981 (1981-10)
Number of official events18
Order of MeritEngland Jenny Lee Smith
← 1980
1982 →

The 1981 Ladies European Tour was the third season of golf tournaments organised by the Women's Professional Golfers' Association (WPGA), which later became the Ladies European Tour (LET).[1] There were 13 tournaments on the schedule including four Carlsberg sponsored events and the Women's British Open, organised by the Ladies' Golf Union.

For the 1981 season, the majority of tournaments were increased to 54-holes, having previously been held over 36-holes. This included the Carlsberg events, which were reduced in number, from ten down to four, in order to increase the prize funds at each event. Total prize money on the tour was planned to rise to £250,000 in 1981,[2] but the tour suffered financially during the season as several tournaments were cancelled after sponsors withdrew their support.[3]

The Order of Merit was won by Jenny Lee Smith, who dominated the season with three wins and four runner-up finishes; her £13,518 in prize money put her more than £5,000 clear of runner-up Cathy Panton.[4] The Carlsberg European Championship overall title was won by Panton, who won two of the four events.[5]

  1. ^ LET Tour Guide 2013. Ladies European Tour. 2013. p. 195.
  2. ^ Plumridge, Christopher (9 December 1980). "Women's circuit is booming". The Guardian. London, England. p. 21. Retrieved 24 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Hennessy, John (17 March 1981). "Bleak prspect of drop in prize money for women". The Times. p. 11. Retrieved 24 September 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference oom1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference carlsberg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).