The European Tour schedule for 2019 has been released with some significant changes made to the program. Next year, the European Tour will be truly global—47 tournaments will take place in 31 different countries.
The 2019 European Tour season will see new destinations added to its roster, including tournaments “down under” and in Kenya. This is as part of a shuffled schedule from previous years.
Two new events have been added in the shape of the Vic Open in Australia, a tournament which will see male and female professionals compete against one another, and the Kenya Open which steps up from Challenge Tour-level for the first time.
The Vic Open will be staged in February as part of a co-sanctioned event with the PGA TOUR of Australasia. There will be link-ups with the Asian Tour and Sunshine Tour once again, too, as in previous years.
Notable changes to the European Tour schedule
Notable changes to the schedule include the BMW PGA Championship and British Masters both switching dates. The PGA Championship has been switched to September from its traditional date in May, while the British Masters—to be hosted by Tommy Fleetwood at Hillside Golf Club (Southport, England) in 2019—will be held in May instead of October.
Other events to have been switched include the Italian Open and Open de France—which both switch from June to October—and the Andalucia Valderrama Masters which goes the other way and moves from October to June.
GolfSixes will return for a third year and will be staged in Portugal, while the Shot Clock Masters, a tournament during which players have a time limit to play shots, will also be back for a second year after making a successful debut in 2018.
In addition to women playing against men in the Vic Open, they will also do so in the GolfSixes and the Trophee Hassan II Golf Trophy tournament in Morocco in April.
The Rolex Series of major events has also been expanded for 2019 and now includes an eighth event after the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship was elevated. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship will join the Irish Open, the Scottish Open, the BMW PGA Championship, the Italian Open, the Turkish Airlines Open, the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the DP World Tour Championship in the Rolex Series events.
The 2019 European Tour, which runs from November 2018 to November, will take in 31 countries on five continents—Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and North America—and culminate with the Race to Dubai.
“Delighted” with the European Tour schedule
Keith Waters, chief operating officer of the European Tour, said: “We are delighted with our 2019 International Schedule which illustrates precisely what we are all about; namely a Tour which delivers a significant breadth and scope of global coverage in addition to taking a leading role in innovation and transformation.
“Our grateful thanks go to our co-sanctioning partners at the Asian Tour, the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia and the Sunshine Tour, in addition to the many sponsors, partners and promoters we work with in so many different countries to deliver these world-class events.”
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