The DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) is one of the most well-regarded and established circuits in the game, with some of the best-known tournaments around, including the Dubai Desert Classic and its flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship.
While it doesn't boast the same status as the US-based PGA Tour, it still forms an integral part of the game's professional landscape. Here are some facts about the Tour that you may not be familiar with.
1. The roots of the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) go back to 1972, when the Professional Golfers' Association, which was established 71 years earlier to serve the interests of golfers in Great Britain and Ireland, created it.
2. It began with 20 tournaments and the season ran from April to October. The action took place in nine countries – Spain, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Switzerland, West Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.
3. The inaugural European Tour event was the Spanish Open, which was held at Golf Club de Pals in Girona. Fittingly, two Spaniards battled it out for the title in a playoff, with Antonio Garrido emerging the winner over Valentin Barrios. The purse for the tournament was £10,000.
4. Nowadays, DP World Tour events take place around the world, but it was strictly a Europe-only affair for the first decade of its existence. That changed in 1982 with the first tournament to be played outside the continent – the Tunisian Open in Africa. Garrido once again claimed the title after beating compatriot Manuel Calero in a playoff.
5. The DP World Tour’s headquarters are at Wentworth in Surrey, England. From there, the PGA European Tour, to give it its legal title, also runs the European Senior Tour (currently the Legends Tour), the developmental Challenge Tour and G4D Tour. It is also the lead partner in Ryder Cup Europe.
6. Some of the highest-profile DP World Tour events take place in Asia, but it wasn’t until 1989 that the continent hosted one of its events with the inaugural Dubai Desert Classic (then called the Karl Litten Desert Classic). The tournament was won by Mark James, who beat Peter O’Malley by four shots to claim the $75,000 first prize.
7. In 2015, including Majors and World Golf Championships, more of the DP World Tour’s tournaments were held outside Europe than within it for the first time.
8. In 1998, The Masters, PGA Championship and US Open were added to the schedule, meaning prize money earned by players in the Majors could be added to the European Tour’s Order of Merit, which affected the end-of-season rankings. Not only that, but with a minimum requirement of 11 appearances needed for players to retain membership of the Tour, the addition of the Majors – along with three World Golf Championships in 1990 – made it easier for players to reach that target.
9. Seve Ballesteros holds the record for the highest number of DP World Tour wins with 50, eight more than Bernhard Langer in second place. Ballesteros’ first win on the Tour came in the 1976 Dutch Open, with the last in his homeland at the 1995 Spanish Open.
10. The total prize money for the inaugural season of the Tour (excluding Majors) was £290,500. Adjusted for inflation, that would be £3.3m today (around $4m). In 2024, the prize fund will be $148.5m (approximately £121.5m).
