The European Tour’s 2021 schedule will feature a minimum of 42 tournaments in 24 countries, with the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open seeing a large increase in prize money.
Running from January to November, the European Tour schedule features 18 returning tournaments that were either postponed or cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19.
The Rolex Series
The 2021 season’s Rolex Series will features the European Tour’s four premium events spread across key points in the global golfing calendar, each one enhanced by a prize fund increase and elevated Race to Dubai points.
The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship (January 21-24), the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open (July 8-11) and the BMW PGA Championship (September 9-12) will each now have a prize fund of US$8million – an increase of $1million. They will also all have 8,000 Race to Dubai points available, the same as on offer at the four World Golf Championship events.
The prize fund for the fourth and final Rolex Series event of the season – the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai – also increases by US$1million to US$9million. The European Tour season-ending finale will also continue to feature the largest winner’s cheque in the world of golf – US$3million – with, additionally, 12,000 Race to Dubai points available, some 2,000 points above those on offer at the four Major Championships.
Prize fund increases
Prize funds for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the Italian Open will each rise to €3million, from €1.25million and €1million respectively.
The European Tour has also confirmed that prize funds for all four UK Swing events in July and August will be increased. Prize funds for the new tournaments in Tenerife and Gran Canaria in April will each be €1.5million; the Portugal Masters, which follows these two events, will also increase to €1.5million; prize fund for the Betfred British Masters will rise to €2million from €1.25million.
Along with the traditional group of tournaments in the Middle East at the start of the year, the schedule also includes the return of the Iberian Swing in April and the UK Swing in July and August, which follows on from the run of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open and The Open Championship. Also next to each other on the schedule are the Open de España and the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters in Spain in the first two weeks of October followed by the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco the following week.
Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “I am incredibly proud to announce our 2021 global schedule, one that once again sees us journey through continents and across the world.”
