European Tour rebrand hailed as momentous
CHIEF EXECUTIVE Keith Pelley has hailed the “momentous” deal which will see the European Tour renamed on the eve of celebrating its 50th anniversary. The European Tour will be known as the DP World Tour from the start of the 2022 season and boasts total prize money of more than $200 million for the first time.
The lucrative Rolex Series expands from four tournaments to five with the addition of the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, while the season-ending DP World Tour Championship features a prize fund of $10m – the first regular European Tour event with an eight-figure purse.
All tournaments solely sanctioned by the DP World Tour will have a minimum prize fund of $2m.
The European Tour will officially celebrate its 50th anniversary next year, although the wraparound 2022 season – which features 47 events in 27 different countries – gets under way in South Africa this month.
“Today’s announcement is undoubtedly a momentous one in the proud history of our Tour,” Pelley said. “The launch of the DP World Tour in 2022 will herald a new era in global golf and crucially it will benefit everybody involved – all our players, caddies, fans and partners – as well as making an important contribution to wider society.”
Speaking about the name change, Pelley said he always felt that European Tour was “a misnomer”, highlighting that only 23 of next season’s 47 tournaments would be in Europe.
“The European Tour name is not disappearing. The European Tour Group will exist as our overarching corporate identity. What we are doing is announcing that our main tour title will change and become the DP World Tour. The Challenge Tour, Legends Tour and Ryder Cup Europe will all still fall under the European Tour Group.”
Pelley declined to reveal how much money the deal with DP World is worth, or whether he thought it was enough to prevent players being enticed to join rival tours with former world No.1 Greg Norman fronting a series of Saudi-backed tournaments on the Asian Tour.
However, he did praise the “terrific loyalty” of European Tour players and stressed the increasing opportunities available due to the strategic alliance signed with the PGA Tour last year.