The 2016 European Tour was the eighth 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 fi ...

and the 45th 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 fi ...

officially began in 1972. The Race to Dubai was won for the second time by Sweden's

Henrik Stenson Henrik Olof Stenson (; born 5 April 1976) is a Swedish professional golfer. He is the first male Swedish and first male Nordic major champion, having won the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon with a major championship record score of 26 ...

, who was also named Golfer of the Year. The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year was

Wang Jeung-hun Wang Jeung-hun or Wang Jung-hoon ( ko, 왕정훈; born 7 September 1995) is a South Korean professional golfer. He plays on the European and Asian Tours. He is from Seoul, South Korea. In 2016, he won the European Tour's Trophée Hassan II on a ...

from South Korea.

Rule changes

For the 2016 season, the European Tour modified its membership requirements from 13 tournaments inclusive of the four majors and four

World Golf Championships The World Golf Championships (WGC) are a group of annual professional golf tournaments created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing four ...

, to 5 tournaments exclusive of them; the change was intended to make it easier for United States-based players outside the top-50 in the world rankings to retain their membership, as they may not be eligible for the majors and WGCs.

Changes for 2016

There were many changes from the previous season. Seven tournaments were lost from the schedule, the most significant being the

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational The WGC Invitational was a professional golf tournament that was held in the United States. Established in 1999 as a successor to the World Series of Golf, it was one of three or four annual World Golf Championships (WGC) until 2021, when the n ...

which, due to a clash of dates with the 100th edition of 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 ...

, was not sanctioned by the European tour in 2016. Other tournaments to be removed were the

Africa Open The Africa Open was a golf tournament on the Sunshine Tour held in Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was first contested in February 2008, over the Gary Player designed championship course at the Fish River Sun Country Club, near Port Alfred. In ord ...

, the Malaysian Open, the

Madeira Islands Open The Madeira Islands Open was a men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour played from 1993 to 2015 on Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. History The tournament had one of the smallest prize funds on the tour ( €600,000 in 2 ...

, the Russian Open, the

BMW Masters The BMW Masters was a golf tournament played annually at Lake Malaren Golf Club, in Luodian, Shanghai, China. The tournament began in 2011 and became a European Tour event in 2012. It was dropped from the European Tour in 2016. In 2011, the tourna ...

and the Hong Kong Open, which would take place early in the 2017 season due to a change in dates from October to December. There were four additions to the schedule: the return of the

Perth International The World Super 6 Perth is a golf tournament that was played for the first time in October 2012 as the ISPS Handa Perth International. It is played at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in Perth, Western Australia. It is co-sanctioned by the European ...

, the first European Tour sanctioned

Australian PGA Championship The Australian PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is the home tournament of the Australian PGA. Since 2000 it has been held in the South East Queensland region. The tournament was part of the OneAsia Tour fro ...

; the inaugural

Maybank Championship The Maybank Championship was a professional golf tournament, co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the European Tour, that was played annually in Malaysia. The tournament was founded in 2016 by sponsors Maybank, who had previously sponsored the Mal ...

, which replaced the Malaysian Open; and the Olympic Men's Golf Competition. The Final Series was also adjusted; the

Nedbank Golf Challenge The Nedbank Golf Challenge, previously known as the Million Dollar Challenge, is an annual men's professional golf tournament played at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, North West province, South Africa. It was first played in 1981 and ...

replaced the dropped BMW Masters, and the series was reduced to three events with the removal of the WGC-HSBC Champions. As a result of the change of dates, the Nedbank Golf Challenge was played twice during the season. The

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 ...

and the

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nat ...

were added to the schedule later.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2016 season.

Unofficial events

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

Location of tournaments

Race to Dubai

Since 2009, the European Tour's money list has been known as the "Race to Dubai". It is based on money earned during the season and is calculated in

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, with earnings from tournaments that award prize money in other currencies being converted at the exchange rate available the week of the event.

Rule changes

Changes for 2016

Schedule

Unofficial events

Location of tournaments

Race to Dubai

Final standings

Awards

Golfer of the Month

See also

Notes

References