2015 European Tour

The 2015 European Tour is the seventh edition of the Race to Dubai and the 44th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.

2015 European Tour season
Duration4 December 2014 (2014-12-04) – 22 November 2015 (2015-11-22)
Number of official events48
Most wins3:
Rory McIlroy
Andy Sullivan
Race to Dubai Rory McIlroy
Golfer of the Year Rory McIlroy
Players' Player of the Year Rory McIlroy
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year An Byeong-hun
← 2014
2016 →

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy defended the Race to Dubai, winning the title for the third time. He was also named Golfer of the Year. South Korea's An Byeong-hun was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.

Changes for 2015

There were many changes from the previous season. There were six additions to the schedule, made up of four new tournaments: the True Thailand Classic, the Shenzhen International, the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay, and the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open; the Hero Indian Open, which was co-sanctioned by the European Tour for the first time; and the return of the European Open, which was last played in 2009.[1]

Seven events were lost from the schedule: the Volvo World Match Play Championship and Volvo Golf Champions, as a result of Volvo reducing their sponsorship commitments;[2] the Nelson Mandela Championship; the NH Collection Open; The Championship at Laguna National; the Wales Open, as a 15-year deal with Celtic Manor Resort came to an end;[3] and the Perth International, which wasn't played in 2015 due to rescheduling from October to February.

In March, the tour confirmed that the British Masters, last held in 2008, was also being revived and added to the schedule.[4] Later in the month, the Madeira Islands Open was cancelled due to persistent heavy rain; it was later rescheduled to the end of July, opposite the Paul Lawrie Matchplay.[5]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2015 season.[6]

Date Tournament Host country Purse Winner[lower-alpha 1] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 2]		 Notes
7 Dec Nedbank Golf Challenge South Africa US$6,500,000 Danny Willett (2) 38 AFR
14 Dec Alfred Dunhill Championship South Africa €1,500,000 Branden Grace (5) 22 AFR
11 Jan South African Open Championship South Africa R14,000,000 Andy Sullivan (1) 32 AFR[lower-alpha 3]
18 Jan Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship UAE US$2,700,000 Gary Stal (1) 50
24 Jan Commercial Bank Qatar Masters Qatar US$2,500,000 Branden Grace (6) 42
1 Feb Omega Dubai Desert Classic UAE US$2,650,000 Rory McIlroy (10) 50
8 Feb Maybank Malaysian Open Malaysia US$3,000,000 Anirban Lahiri (1) 38 ASA
15 Feb True Thailand Classic Thailand US$2,000,000 Andrew Dodt (2) 28 ASA New tournament
22 Feb Hero Indian Open India US$1,500,000 Anirban Lahiri (2) 19 ASA New to European Tour
1 Mar Joburg Open South Africa €1,300,000 Andy Sullivan (2) 19 AFR
8 Mar Africa Open South Africa R14,500,000 Trevor Fisher Jnr (1) 19 AFR
8 Mar WGC-Cadillac Championship United States US$9,250,000 Dustin Johnson (n/a) 76 World Golf Championship
15 Mar Tshwane Open South Africa R18,500,000 George Coetzee (2) 19 AFR
29 Mar Trophée Hassan II Morocco €1,500,000 Richie Ramsay (3) 24
12 Apr Masters Tournament United States US$10,000,000 Jordan Spieth (n/a) 100 Major championship
19 Apr Shenzhen International China US$2,500,000 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (2) 24 New tournament
26 Apr Volvo China Open China CN¥20,000,000 Wu Ashun (1) 26 ONE
3 May WGC-Cadillac Match Play United States US$9,250,000 Rory McIlroy (11) 76 World Golf Championship
10 May AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open Mauritius €1,000,000 George Coetzee (3) 17 AFR, ASA New tournament
17 May Open de España Spain €1,500,000 James Morrison (2) 26
24 May BMW PGA Championship England €5,000,000 An Byeong-hun (1) 64 Flagship event
31 May Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Northern Ireland €2,500,000 Søren Kjeldsen (4) 48
7 Jun Nordea Masters Sweden €1,500,000 Alex Norén (4) 26
14 Jun Lyoness Open Austria €1,500,000 Chris Wood (2) 24
21 Jun U.S. Open United States US$9,000,000 Jordan Spieth (n/a) 100 Major championship
28 Jun BMW International Open Germany €2,000,000 Pablo Larrazábal (4) 32
5 Jul Alstom Open de France France €3,000,000 Bernd Wiesberger (3) 36
12 Jul Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open Scotland £3,250,000 Rickie Fowler (n/a) 50
20 Jul The Open Championship Scotland £6,300,000 Zach Johnson (n/a) 100 Major championship
26 Jul Omega European Masters Switzerland €2,700,000 Danny Willett (3) 32 ASA
2 Aug Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay Scotland €1,000,000 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (3) 24 New tournament
2 Aug[lower-alpha 4]
22 Mar		 Madeira Islands Open - Portugal - BPI Portugal €600,000 Roope Kakko (1) 18 CHA
9 Aug WGC-Bridgestone Invitational United States US$9,250,000 Shane Lowry (3) 74 World Golf Championship
16 Aug PGA Championship United States US$10,000,000 Jason Day (n/a) 100 Major championship
23 Aug Made in Denmark Denmark €1,500,000 David Horsey (4) 24
30 Aug D+D Real Czech Masters Czech Republic €1,000,000 Thomas Pieters (1) 24
6 Sep M2M Russian Open Russia €1,000,000 Lee Slattery (2) 24
13 Sep KLM Open Netherlands €1,800,000 Thomas Pieters (2) 24
20 Sep Open d'Italia Italy €1,500,000 Rikard Karlberg (1) 24
27 Sep Porsche European Open Germany €2,000,000 Thongchai Jaidee (7) 30
4 Oct Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Scotland US$5,000,000 Thorbjørn Olesen (3) 44
11 Oct British Masters England £3,000,000 Matt Fitzpatrick (1) 36
18 Oct Portugal Masters Portugal €2,000,000 Andy Sullivan (3) 24
25 Oct UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong US$2,000,000 Justin Rose (8) 34 ASA
1 Nov Turkish Airlines Open Turkey US$7,000,000 Victor Dubuisson (2) 44 Race to Dubai finals series
8 Nov WGC-HSBC Champions China US$8,500,000 Russell Knox (1) 66 World Golf Championship
Race to Dubai finals series
15 Nov BMW Masters China US$7,000,000 Kristoffer Broberg (1) 50 Race to Dubai finals series
22 Nov DP World Tour Championship, Dubai UAE US$8,000,000 Rory McIlroy (12) 52 Race to Dubai finals series

Location of tournaments

Race to Dubai

Since 2009, the European Tour's money list has been known as the "Race to Dubai", and is based on money earned during the season. In a change for the 2015 season, the system was slightly modified to a full points system, with one euro equal to one point for all events leading up to the Final Series, where additional points were awarded (previously earnings were converted into points at the start of the Final Series);[7] earnings from tournaments that award prize money in other currencies were converted at the exchange rate available the week of the event.

The following table shows the final top-10 in the 2015 standings.[8]

RankPlayerEventsPoints
1 Rory McIlroy124,727,253
2 Danny Willett233,670,310
3 Branden Grace193,056,948
4 Justin Rose142,827,024
5 Shane Lowry182,729,144
6 Louis Oosthuizen132,711,457
7 An Byeong-hun262,417,356
8 Andy Sullivan282,263,573
9 Bernd Wiesberger252,163,180
10 Thongchai Jaidee262,150,076
  • Full list can be found here.

Awards
AwardWinner
European Tour Golfer of the Year Rory McIlroy
European Tour Players' Player of the Year Rory McIlroy
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year An Byeong-hun

Golfer of the Month

The winners of the European Tour Golfer of the Month award:

MonthPlayer
January Gary Stal
February Anirban Lahiri
March Richie Ramsay
April Wu Ashun
May An Byeong-hun
June Alex Norén
July Danny Willett
August Shane Lowry
September Lee Slattery
October Matt Fitzpatrick
November Rory McIlroy

See also

Notes
  1. The numbers in parentheses after the winners' names show the number of official career wins they had on the European Tour up to and including that event. Totals are only shown for members of the European Tour and are inclusive of the three United States-based major championships which were included on the schedule for the first time in 1998, with earlier editions having retrospectively been recognised as official tour wins. Victories in "Approved Special Events" are not recognised as official tour wins.
  2. AFR − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour; ONE − OneAsia Tour.
  3. Sunshine Tour flagship event
  4. Rescheduled due to persistent bad weather.

References
  1. "European Tour 2015: New events in Scotland, Germany, Thailand". BBC Sport. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  2. "European Tour: Volvo withdraw sponsorship of two events". Sky Sports. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  3. Corrigan, James (19 September 2014). "Wales Open becomes latest professional tournament to bite the dust after being handed last rites by Celtic Manor". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  4. "European Tour: British Masters returns after seven-year absence". BBC Sport. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  5. Lavner, Ryan (24 March 2015). "Canceled Euro Tour event rescheduled for July". Golf Channel. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  6. "2015 European Tour Schedule". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  7. "New points system announced for European Tour Race to Dubai in 2015". Sky Sports. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  8. "The Race Is On". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.