stringtranslate.com

2019 European Tour

The 2019 European Tour was the 48th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 2019

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$5,000,000 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$3,000,000.[7]

Tournament changes

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2019 season.[8]

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

The Race to Dubai was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.[9][10]

  Win
  Top 10
  Made cut
  Missed cut
• Did not play

Awards

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The number in brackets after each winner's name is the number of European Tour events they had won up to and including that tournament. This information is only shown for European Tour members.
  2. ^ AFR − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour.
  3. ^ Sunshine Tour flagship event
  4. ^ a b Also a Rolex Series tournament.
  5. ^ McIlroy was not a European Tour member during the WGC-Mexico Championship, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Masters Tournament. Points he earned in these events did not count towards his Race to Dubai ranking.

References

  1. ^ Herrington, Ryan (3 December 2018). "Nine changes in the new Rules of Golf you absolutely need to know for 2019". Golf Digest. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  2. ^ Harig, Bob (10 August 2017). "PGA Championship to move from August date to May in 2019". ESPN. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  3. ^ Shedloski, Dave (7 August 2017). "The PGA Championship is moving to May and players are on board". Golf Digest. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  4. ^ "P.G.A. Championship Will Move from August to May in 2019". The New York Times. Reuters. 8 August 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  5. ^ Herrington, Ryan (7 August 2017). "The PGA Championship will be moving to May, sources say". Golf Digest. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  6. ^ Gray, Will (29 October 2018). "Lots of change to 2019 European Tour schedule". Golf Channel. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  7. ^ "End of season changes". European Tour. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  8. ^ "2019 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  9. ^ "2019 Race To Dubai". European Tour. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  10. ^ Sinnott, John (24 November 2019). "Spaniard John Rahm wins Race to Dubai title to pocket $5 million". CNN. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Rahm named 2019 Hilton European Tour Golfer of the Year". European Tour. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  12. ^ "Rahm receives 2019 Seve Ballesteros Award". European Tour. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  13. ^ Hughes, Joe (24 November 2019). "MacIntyre seals Rookie of the Year title". National Club Golfer. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  14. ^ "Rookie of the Year MacIntyre credits Challenge Tour influence". European Tour. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2023. Robert MacIntyre paid tribute to the European Challenge Tour after finishing his debut European Tour season in 11th place on the Race to Dubai Rankings Presented by Rolex, earning the Scot the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award and the Challenge Tour Graduate of the Year Award.

External links