2019 European Tour

The 2019 European Tour was the 48th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972 and the 11th edition of the Race to Dubai.

The Race to Dubai was won by Spain's Jon Rahm, who was also named Golfer of the Year. Scotland's Robert MacIntyre was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.

Changes from the previous season[]

Rule changes[]

From January 1, 2019 onwards, tournaments followed the new rules released by the USGA and The R&A 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.^[1]

Scheduling changes[]

As announced in 2017, the US PGA Championship was moved from August to May, starting in 2019. The PGA of America 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 and NBC) are NFL broadcast partners.

Consequently, the European Tour moved the flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, from the congested May date to late September, four weeks after the end of the 2019 PGA Tour season. It was hoped the date would attract more top names.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

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$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 would have the largest tournament first prize in golf of US$3m.^[7]

Tournament changes[]

• New tournament: Saudi International.
• Returning tournament: Alfred Dunhill Championship (not held during the 2018 season due to course renovations)
• Tournaments on the European Tour schedule for the first time: ISPS Handa Vic Open, Kenya Open.
• Changes to the Rolex Series: the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship replaced the Open de France.
• No longer part of the schedule: Joburg Open, Tshwane Open, Sicilian Open, Fiji International, Shot Clock Masters.

Schedule[]

The following table lists all tournaments on the 2019 European Tour schedule.^[8]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Winner[a]	OWGR points[9]	Race to Dubai points	Purse	Other tours[b]	Notes
25 Nov	Honma Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	Aaron Rai (1)	30	2,750	$2,000,000	ASA
2 Dec	Australian PGA Championship	Australia	Cameron Smith (n/a)	20	2,000	A$1,500,000	ANZ
2 Dec	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open	Mauritius	Kurt Kitayama (1)	17	2,000	€1,000,000	AFR, ASA
9 Dec	South African Open	South Africa	Louis Oosthuizen (9)	32	2,000	R17,500,000	AFR, ASA
16 Dec	Alfred Dunhill Championship	South Africa	David Lipsky (2)	23	2,750	€1,500,000	AFR
19 Jan	Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship	UAE	Shane Lowry (4)	48	7,000	$7,000,000		Rolex Series event
27 Jan	Omega Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	Bryson DeChambeau (1)	46	4,250	$3,250,000
3 Feb	Saudi International	Saudi Arabia	Dustin Johnson (n/a)	48	4,250	$3,500,000		New tournament
10 Feb	ISPS Handa Vic Open	Australia	David Law (1)	20	2,000	A$1,500,000	ANZ	New to European Tour; held concurrently with the Women's Victorian Open
17 Feb	ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth	Australia	Ryan Fox (1)	20	2,000	A$1,600,000	ANZ, ASA
24 Feb	WGC-Mexico Championship	Mexico	Dustin Johnson (n/a)	72	9,000	$10,250,000		World Golf Championships
3 Mar	Oman Open	Oman	Kurt Kitayama (2)	24	2,750	$1,750,000
10 Mar	Commercial Bank Qatar Masters	Qatar	Justin Harding (1)	24	2,750	$1,750,000
17 Mar	Magical Kenya Open	Kenya	Guido Migliozzi (1)	24	2,000	€1,100,000		New to European Tour
24 Mar	Maybank Championship	Malaysia	Scott Hend (3)	24	3,500	$3,000,000	ASA
31 Mar	WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play	United States	Kevin Kisner (1)	76	9,000	$10,250,000		World Golf Championships
31 Mar	Hero Indian Open	India	Stephen Gallacher (4)	19	2,750	$1,750,000	ASA
14 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	Tiger Woods (n/a)	100	10,000	$11,000,000		Major championship
28 Apr	Trophée Hassan II	Morocco	Jorge Campillo (1)	24	3,500	€2,500,000
5 May	Volvo China Open	China	Mikko Korhonen (2)	24	3,500	¥20,000,000	ASA
12 May	Betfred British Masters	England	Marcus Kinhult (1)	26	4,250	£3,000,000
19 May	PGA Championship	United States	Brooks Koepka (5)	100	10,000	$11,000,000		Major championship
26 May	Made in Denmark	Denmark	Bernd Wiesberger (5)	24	4,250	€3,000,000
2 Jun	Belgian Knockout	Belgium	Guido Migliozzi (2)	24	2,000	€1,000,000
8 Jun	GolfSixes Cascais	Portugal	Thailand[c]	n/a	n/a	€1,000,000		Approved special event[a]
16 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	Gary Woodland (n/a)	100	10,000	$12,500,000		Major championship
23 Jun	BMW International Open	Germany	Andrea Pavan (2)	26	2,750	€2,000,000
30 Jun	Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters	Spain	Christiaan Bezuidenhout (1)	24	4,250	€3,000,000
7 Jul	Dubai Duty Free Irish Open	Ireland	Jon Rahm (4)	42	7,000	$7,000,000		Rolex Series event
14 Jul	Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open	Scotland	Bernd Wiesberger (6)	48	7,000	$7,000,000		Rolex Series event
21 Jul	The Open Championship	Northern Ireland	Shane Lowry (5)	100	10,000	$10,750,000		Major championship
28 Jul	WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational	United States	Brooks Koepka (6)	72	9,000	$10,250,000		World Golf Championships
18 Aug	D+D Real Czech Masters	Czech Republic	Thomas Pieters (4)	24	2,000	€1,000,000
25 Aug	Scandinavian Invitation	Sweden	Erik van Rooyen (1)	24	2,750	€1,500,000
1 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	Sebastian Söderberg (1)	38	3,500	€2,500,000
8 Sep	Porsche European Open	Germany	Paul Casey (14)	26	2,750	€2,000,000
15 Sep	KLM Open	Netherlands	Sergio García (16)	24	2,750	€2,000,000
22 Sep	BMW PGA Championship	England	Danny Willett (7)	64	7,000	$7,000,000		Flagship event; Rolex Series event
29 Sep	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	Victor Perez (1)	50	5,500	$5,000,000
6 Oct	Mutuactivos Open de España	Spain	Jon Rahm (5)	24	2,750	€1,500,000
13 Oct	Italian Open	Italy	Bernd Wiesberger (7)	44	7,000	$7,000,000		Rolex Series event
20 Oct	Amundi Open de France	France	Nicolas Colsaerts (3)	24	2,750	€1,600,000
27 Oct	Portugal Masters	Portugal	Steven Brown (1)	24	2,750	€1,500,000
3 Nov	WGC-HSBC Champions	China	Rory McIlroy (14)	60	9,000	$10,250,000		World Golf Championships
10 Nov	Turkish Airlines Open	Turkey	Tyrrell Hatton (4)	42	9,000	$7,000,000		Rolex Series event
17 Nov	Nedbank Golf Challenge	South Africa	Tommy Fleetwood (5)	36	10,000	$7,500,000	AFR	Rolex Series event
24 Nov	DP World Tour Championship, Dubai	UAE	Jon Rahm (6)	52	12,000	$8,000,000		Tour Championship; Rolex Series event

Location of tournaments[]

class=notpageimage| Location of official tournaments of the 2019 European Tour in Europe. Major Championship Rolex Series event Regular event

class=notpageimage| Location of official tournaments of the 2019 European Tour outside Europe. Major Championship World Golf Championship Rolex Series event Regular event class=notpageimage| South Africa class=notpageimage| United Arab Emirates

Race to Dubai points leaders[]

Final Race to Dubai standings of top 10 players

Pos.	Player	Majors				World Golf Ch.				Rolex Series								Top 10s in other ET events					Total pts	Tmts	Money (€m)	Bonus ($m)
		Mas	PGA	USO	Opn	Mex	MP	Inv	Cha	Abu	Ire	Sco	BMW	Ita	Tur	Ned	Dub	1	2	3	4	5
1	Rahm	T9 202	CUT 0	T3 475	T11 163	T45 49	T24 79	7th 270	•	•	1st 1165	•	2nd 780	•	•	•	1st 2000	T2 256	1st 460				5,898	13	6.2	2.0
2	Fleetwood	T36 73	T48 47	T65 25	2nd 1113	T19 104	T24 78	T4 382	T53 35	T42 41	T23 75	•	T60 20	•	•	1st 1665	2nd 1335	T8 81	T8 75	T5 170			5,415	18	5.2	1.2
3	Wiesberger	•	•	76th 17	T32 76	•	•	•	T49 42	T42 41	T2 609	1st 1165	T17 89	1st 1165	49th 45	T3 517	T28 104	1st 710	8th 50	5th 116			4,906	29	4.0	0.7
4	Lowry	CUT 0	T8 198	T28 94	1st 1665	T62 24	T24 79	•	T43 54	1st 1165	T34 52	•	T11 120	CUT 0	62nd 24	•	T12 200						3,614	14	3.6	0.6
5	Fitzpatrick	T21 107	T41 60	T12 162	T20 107	T19 82	T24 25	T4 382	7th 270	•	•	T14 97	T46 36	2nd 780	•	T10 185	9th 267	2nd 305	2nd 305	2nd 305			3,588	20	2.8	0.5
6	McIlroy	T21 107	T8 198	T9 202	CUT 0	2nd 1000	T9 155	T4 382	1st 1500	•	•	T34 50	T9 148	•	•	•	4th 600	T2 233					3,364	13	3.1
7	Wallace	CUT 0	T3 517	T12 162	T51 41	T33 72	T40 48	T27 76	T60 25	T16 89	T55 24	T14 96	T41 43	T7 180	50th 41	T44 57	T28 104	2nd 472	T2 317	T3 105	3rd 172	T8 55	2,851	27	2.4
8	Oosthuizen	T29 90	T60 28	T7 275	T20 106	T25 93	T5 298	T20 104	3rd 565	4th 350	T46 37	•	•	•	•	T6 325	T20 131	1st 335	T7 76				2,814	14	2.3
9	Hatton	T56 41	T48 47	T21 111	T6 281	T19 104	T9 155	T43 52	T14 143	CUT 0	CUT 0	T14 97	CUT 0	T18 83	1st 1500	•	46th 67						2,799	18	2.9
10	van Rooyen	•	T8 198	T43 61	T20 107	T36 67	•	•	T38 61	T32 53	CUT 0	T14 97	T14 103	T10 122	T2 542	T30 80	T28 104	T2 122	T6 77	T2 261	T5 62	1st 460	2,766	29	2.0

Note: Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland are not European Tour members. Kevin Kisner joined the European Tour after the WGC Match Play, but forfeited his membership in mid-September.

Note2: Rory McIlroy was not a European Tour member during the WGC-Mexico Championship, WGC-Match Play, and The Masters. Points earned in these events do not count towards the Race to Dubai.

Source:^[10]

Awards[]

Award	Winner	Country
European Tour Golfer of the Year	Jon Rahm	Spain
The Seve Ballesteros Award	Jon Rahm	Spain
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Robert MacIntyre	Scotland

See also[]

• 2018 in golf
• 2019 in golf
• 2019 Challenge Tour
• 2019 European Senior Tour
• 2019 Ladies European Tour
• 2019 PGA Tour
• 2020 PGA Tour

References[]