This week, the European Tour
published their 2019 international schedule, and it includes a total of
48 tournaments in 31 countries across five continents. The Kenya Open
Golf Championship, which was part of the European Challenge Tour from
1991 to 2018, now features on the main European
Tour 2019 schedule and is slotted for March 14-17, 2019 at the Karen Country Club.
Tour 2019 schedule and is slotted for March 14-17, 2019 at the Karen Country Club.
All
47 events, including the Kenya Open, will contribute to the Race to
Dubai points and with that a place to participate in the final, 48th
event of the Tour, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November
2019.
The European Tour 2019 schedule includes eight
premier events that form the Rolex Series, each of these has a total
prize kitty of at least $7m (Sh714m) and winners typically take home
about Sh120 million. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship joins the Rolex
Series in 2019. It will be played in mid-January, a week before the
Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Saudi international
form the ‘Desert Swing’ of the European Tour.
Saudi
Arabia announced that their event would be used as part of their Vision
2030 strategy, which seeks to showcase leisure and tourism industries, a
move away from their reliance on oil and gas. The goals of the Saudi
Arabia event are similar to those of the Kenya Open, which seeks to
showcase Kenya as a golf tourism destination using the platform provided
by the European Tour.
The Tour is broadcast live in more than 150 countries around the globe every week and to over 490 million homes.
The Oman Open and the Qatar Masters will be played in late February and early March, in the fortnight before the Kenya Open.
The
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the Aberdeen Standard Investments
Scottish Open in July remain as part of the Rolex Series alongside the
BMW PGA Championship, the Italian Open, the Turkish Airlines Open and
the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player. The BMW PGA has been
moved from its traditional spot in May to a date in September. According
to Golf World, this change of date will avoid “scheduling conflicts
with the US PGA Tour and will most likely improve the quality of field
at Wentworth”. According to European Tour CEO Keith Pelley, the ever
changing global golf calendar provided the opportunity to move the BMW
PGA Championship to a more favourable date in autumn. “Wentworth Club is
an iconic location in the realm of British sport, and the BMW PGA
Championship is always hugely popular with the public,” he said. “Over
110,000 spectators attend the event over the course of the week..”
Other
events that have moved dates include the Italian Open, from June to
October and the Open de France also from June to October whilst the
Andalucia Valderrama Masters moves from October to June.
Three
events on the European Tour 2019 schedule will include women
professionals. They include GolfSixes, a new innovative format, the
Trophee Hassan II tournament in Morocco and the Vic Open in Australia — a
new event on the Tour schedule.
Commenting on the 2019
European Tour schedule, the Tour CEO Keith Waters said the Tour was
truly global. “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,” he said.
“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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