John Player Classic

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox golf tournament

| name = John Player Classic

| image =

| location = Turnberry, Scotland

| establishment = 1970

| course = Turnberry

| par = 71

| yardage =

| tour = European Tour

| format = Stroke play

| purse = {{currency|58,550|GBP}}

| month_played = September

| final_year = 1973

| aggregate = 285 Bob Charles (1972)

| to-par = {{nowrap|−2 Christy O'Connor Snr (1970)}}

| final_champion = {{flagicon|USA}} Charles Coody

| map = Scotland#Scotland South Ayrshire

| map_label = Turnberry

| map_caption = Location in Scotland##Location in South Ayrshire

| map_relief = yes

| map_label_position =

| map_size = 200px

| coordinates = {{coord|55.316|-4.832}}

}}

The John Player Classic was the richest golf tournament in Britain between 1970 and 1973. In 1972 and 1973 it was an event on the fledgling European Tour.

The John Player Classic was first played in 1970 at Notts Golf Club (Hollinwell), when Ireland's Christy O'Connor Snr triumphed by one stroke over England's Tony Jacklin to collect the £25,000 first prize.{{cite news |title=O'Connor Captures Player Golf Classic |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |date=7 September 1970 |page=23 |agency=Associated Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FmktAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9YkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6613,1429830&dq=john-player-classic&hl=en}} Having not been held in 1971, the tournament returned as part of the new European Tour in 1972. It also had a change of venue, being moved to Turnberry on the west coast of Scotland.

The tournament was played just once more, in 1973, when American Charles Coody took the title. The second round featured some of the worst conditions ever seen in a professional golf tournament, with a gale-force wind gusting up to 65 mph, and rain falling horizontally.{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Andrew|title=Golf's Strangest Rounds|date=1999|publisher=Robson Books|location=London|isbn=1861051840|pages=215}} Marquees and hoardings were destroyed, with several exhibitors tents being uprooted and flung onto the course.

It was cancelled the following year because of a clash of dates with the PGA Tour's Kaiser International Open Invitational.{{cite news |title=Golf |newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=6 March 1974 |page=6D |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jkg0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=32YEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7241,2462514&dq=john-player-classic&hl=en}}{{cite news |first=Raymond |last=Jacobs |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=do9AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4aQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1492%2C1109063 |title=Player Classic is dropped |newspaper=Glasgow Herald |date=6 March 1974 |page=4 |via=Google News Archive |access-date=15 June 2020}}