The 2019 European Tour was the 48th season of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournaments since the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

officially began in 1972 and the 11th edition of the

Race to Dubai The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

. The Race to Dubai was won by Spain's

Jon Rahm Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first ac ...

, who was also named Golfer of the Year. Scotland's

Robert MacIntyre Robert Hamilton Macintyre TD RIBA ARIAS (2 February 1940 – 18 September 1997) was a Scottish architect with a particular interest in church architecture and in the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He was a champion of causes to improve ...

was the

Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

Changes for 2019

Rule changes

From January 1, 2019 onwards, tournaments followed the new

rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education * Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule perta ...

released by the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

and

The R&A The R&A is the collective name of a group of companies that together play a significant role within the game of golf. Historically, "the R&A" was a colloquial name for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews; in 2004, the club spun off ...

which were designed to simplify the rule book and speed up the pace of play. The most noticeable changes included golfers being able to putt on the green with the flag remaining in, and drops being made from knee rather than shoulder height.

Scheduling changes

As announced in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, the US

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

was moved from August to May, starting in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. The

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

cited the addition of golf to the Summer Olympics, as well as cooler weather enabling a wider array of options for host courses, as reasoning for the change. It was also believed that the PGA Tour wished to re-align its season so that its FedEx Cup Playoffs would not have to compete with the start of the NFL season in early September, since both United States broadcast partners (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

) are NFL broadcast partners. Consequently, the European Tour moved the flagship event, the

BMW PGA Championship The BMW PGA Championship is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association, and originally called the British PGA Championship. History The BMW PGA Championship ...

, from the congested May date to late September, four weeks after the end of the

2019 PGA Tour Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

season. It was hoped the date would attract more top names.

Changes to the Race to Dubai

The number of Race to Dubai points available in the Final Series (last three events of the season) was increased, and the field size reduced. The aim was to make more players still have a chance of winning the Race to Dubai entering the Final Series. In addition, although the prize money was not increased, the bonus pool of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

5m would now be split among the top five players rather than the top ten. The money saved from restricting field sizes was used solely to increase the first prizes, which means that the tournaments would not have the standard prize fund distribution, and the

DP World Tour Championship, Dubai The DP World Tour Championship is a golf tournament on the European Tour and is the climax of the DP World Tour Rankings. It is contested on the Greg Norman-designed Earth course at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The t ...

would have the largest tournament first prize in golf of

3m.

Tournament changes

*New tournament: Saudi International. *Returning tournament:

Alfred Dunhill Championship The Alfred Dunhill Championship is a men's professional golf tournament which is played in South Africa. It is part of the Southern African Sunshine Tour and is one of several events in South Africa that are co-sanctioned by the more prestigious ...

(not held during the 2018 season due to course renovations) *Tournaments on the European Tour schedule for the first time:

ISPS Handa Vic Open The Vic Open is an annual golf tournament held in Australia. It was founded in 1957 and is the Victoria state open championship for men. It is run by Golf Victoria and is a Golf Australia national ranking event. The event is held concurrently ...

Kenya Open The Kenya Open, titled as the Magical Kenya Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament in Kenya founded in 1967. History The Kenya Open was an associate event on the Far East Circuit in 1967 and 1968, after which it became a ...

. *Changes to the Rolex Series: the

Abu Dhabi Golf Championship The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is a European Tour golf tournament held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. When founded in 2006, it was one of three European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but at one point was one of six. Hi ...

replaced the

Open de France The Open de France is a European Tour golf tournament. Inaugurated in 1906 it is the oldest national open in Continental Europe and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the tour's inception in 1972. The 100th edition of the event ...

. *No longer part of the schedule:

Joburg Open The Joburg Open is a men's professional golf tournament that is held in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is an event on the Southern Africa-based Sunshine Tour and co-sanctioned by the European Tour, which attracts a larger prize fund and stronger ...

Tshwane Open The Tshwane Open was a golf tournament played since 2013 in Gauteng Province, South Africa. It was played at Copperleaf Golf & Country Estate in Centurion, South Africa in 2013 and 2014 and moved to Pretoria Country Club in Waterkloof in 2015. I ...

Sicilian Open The Sicilian Open was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament. It was played for the first time in 2011. The event was held in Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

Fiji International The Fiji International was a men's golf tournament in Fiji, sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia. The Fiji International was Fiji's first internationally broadcast golf tournament to a worldwide audience across more than 30 countries in over ...

Shot Clock Masters The Austrian Open is a men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1990, and was a European Tour event for seven straight years up to 1996, being held under a variety of names due to regular changes of title sponsor. ...

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2019 season.

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the European Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Changes for 2019

Rule changes

Scheduling changes

Changes to the Race to Dubai

Tournament changes

Schedule

Unofficial events

Location of tournaments

Race to Dubai

Awards

See also

Notes

References