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]
^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.
^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.
^"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.