Originally a bank manager (at age 23 probably Scotland's youngest), Schofield took a significant career turn in 1971. He was offered the role of PR executive to John Jacobs, the British PGA Tournament Director. Having launched the modern-day European Tour in 1972, Jacobs stepped down in 1975. He was replaced by Schofield as the first Executive Director of a fully autonomous European Tour.

Under Schofield’s direction the European Tour grew from 17 tournaments when he took over to 45 in 2003. The Tour’s staff expanded from 10 to more than 120, and the developmental Challenge Tour and European Seniors Tour were also launched. The official prize fund in 1975 barely reached £600,000; upon Schofield's retirement the Tour's annual prize money was well over €100 million.

Global expansion of both the game of golf and the European Tour were also major achievements under Schofield. So too was the reincarnation of the Ryder Cup. Throughout the 1970s and '80s the Cup had become a rather one-sided contest between the USA and Great Britain & Ireland. Schofield was instrumental in bringing the rest of Europe into the competition (and with it the likes of Seve Ballesteros). He was also responsible for offering Tony Jacklin the European captaincy in 1983, from which point the Europeans never looked back.