2018 European Tour

2018 European Tour season

Duration	23 November 2017 (2017-11-23) – 18 November 2018 (2018-11-18)
Number of official events	47
Most wins	Matt Wallace (3)
Race to Dubai	Francesco Molinari
Golfer of the Year	Francesco Molinari
Players' Player of the Year	Francesco Molinari
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Shubhankar Sharma
Graduate of the Year	Erik van Rooyen
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 European Tour was the 47th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

Changes for 2018

There were changes to membership criteria with the reversal of some of the changes introduced for the 2017 season; the number of players gaining exemption from the final Race to Dubai standings reverted to the top 110 and the Access List was scrapped, largely replaced by a re-ranking system. ^[1]

The Race to Dubai points system was adjusted, with all prize money being converted into U.S. dollars before translating into points (1 point = 1 dollar) having previously been calculated after converting into euro. The points for all tournaments were also fixed prior to the start of the season, having previously been set during each tournament week, thereby negating any fluctuation in exchange rates. ^[1]

Tournament changes

• New tournaments: Oman Open.
• Returning tournaments (not part of the 2017 season): Open de España, AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open (missing from the 2017 schedule due to date change), Belgian Knockout (formerly the Belgian Open).
• No longer part of the schedule: Alfred Dunhill Championship (not held due to course renovations; returned for the 2019 season), Open de Portugal (dropped down to the Challenge Tour), Shenzhen International, Paul Lawrie Matchplay.
• Format change: the Lyoness Open (Austrian Open) became the Shot Clock Masters, with all shots subject to a strict time limit before incurring penalty strokes.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2018 season. ^[2]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse	Winner [lower-alpha 1]	OWGR points	Other tours [lower-alpha 2]	Notes
26 Nov	UBS Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	US$2,000,000	Wade Ormsby (1)	34	ASA
3 Dec	Australian PGA Championship	Australia	A$1,500,000	Cameron Smith (n/a)	23	ANZ
3 Dec	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open	Mauritius	€1,000,000	Dylan Frittelli (2)	17	AFR, ASA
11 Dec	Joburg Open	South Africa	R16,500,000	Shubhankar Sharma (1)	17	AFR, ASA
14 Jan	BMW SA Open	South Africa	R15,000,000	Chris Paisley (1)	32	AFR [lower-alpha 3]
21 Jan	Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship	UAE	US$3,000,000	Tommy Fleetwood (4)	52
28 Jan	Omega Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$3,000,000	Li Haotong (2)	48
4 Feb	Maybank Championship	Malaysia	US$3,000,000	Shubhankar Sharma (2)	38	ASA
11 Feb	ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth	Australia	A$1,750,000	Kiradech Aphibarnrat (4)	23	ANZ, ASA
18 Feb	NBO Oman Open	Oman	US$1,750,000	Joost Luiten (6)	24		New tournament
25 Feb	Commercial Bank Qatar Masters	Qatar	US$1,750,000	Eddie Pepperell (1)	24
4 Mar	WGC-Mexico Championship	Mexico	US$10,000,000	Phil Mickelson (n/a)	72		World Golf Championship
4 Mar	Tshwane Open	South Africa	R15,000,000	George Coetzee (4)	19	AFR
11 Mar	Hero Indian Open	India	US$1,750,000	Matt Wallace (2)	22	ASA
25 Mar	WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play	United States	US$10,000,000	Bubba Watson (n/a)	74		World Golf Championship
8 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$11,000,000	Patrick Reed (2)	100		Major championship
15 Apr	Open de España	Spain	€1,500,000	Jon Rahm (3)	26
22 Apr	Trophée Hassan II	Morocco	€2,500,000	Alexander Lévy (5)	24
29 Apr	Volvo China Open	China	CN¥20,000,000	Alexander Björk (1)	32	ASA
13 May	Rocco Forte Sicilian Open	Italy	€1,000,000	Joakim Lagergren (1)	24
20 May	Belgian Knockout	Belgium	€1,000,000	Adrián Otaegui (2)	24
27 May	BMW PGA Championship	England	US$7,000,000	Francesco Molinari (5)	64		Flagship event [lower-alpha 4]
3 Jun	Italian Open	Italy	US$7,000,000	Thorbjørn Olesen (5)	38		Rolex Series
10 Jun	Shot Clock Masters	Austria	€1,000,000	Mikko Korhonen (1)	24
17 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$12,000,000	Brooks Koepka (3)	100		Major championship
24 Jun	BMW International Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Matt Wallace (3)	24
1 Jul	HNA Open de France	France	US$7,000,000	Alex Norén (10)	48		Rolex Series
8 Jul	Dubai Duty Free Irish Open	Ireland	US$7,000,000	Russell Knox (2)	38		Rolex Series
15 Jul	Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open	Scotland	US$7,000,000	Brandon Stone (3)	48		Rolex Series
22 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	US$10,500,000	Francesco Molinari (6)	100		Major championship
29 Jul	Porsche European Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Richard McEvoy (1)	24
5 Aug	Fiji International	Fiji	A$1,250,000	Gaganjeet Bhullar (1)	15	ANZ, ASA
5 Aug	WGC-Bridgestone Invitational	United States	US$10,000,000	Justin Thomas (2)	74		World Golf Championship
12 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$10,500,000	Brooks Koepka (4)	100		Major championship
19 Aug	Nordea Masters	Sweden	€1,500,000	Paul Waring (1)	24
26 Aug	D+D Real Czech Masters	Czech Republic	€1,000,000	Andrea Pavan (1)	24
2 Sep	Made in Denmark	Denmark	€1,500,000	Matt Wallace (4)	24
9 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	€2,500,000	Matt Fitzpatrick (5)	26
16 Sep	KLM Open	Netherlands	€1,800,000	Wu Ashun (3)	24
23 Sep	Portugal Masters	Portugal	€2,000,000	Tom Lewis (2)	24
7 Oct	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	US$5,000,000	Lucas Bjerregaard (2)	38		Pro-Am
14 Oct	Sky Sports British Masters	England	£3,000,000	Eddie Pepperell (2)	38
22 Oct	Andalucía Valderrama Masters	Spain	€2,000,000	Sergio García (15)	24
28 Oct	WGC-HSBC Champions	China	US$10,000,000	Xander Schauffele (1)	66		World Golf Championship
4 Nov	Turkish Airlines Open	Turkey	US$7,000,000	Justin Rose (11)	36		Rolex Series Limited-field event
11 Nov	Nedbank Golf Challenge	South Africa	US$7,500,000	Lee Westwood (24)	34		Rolex Series Limited-field event
18 Nov	DP World Tour Championship, Dubai	UAE	US$8,000,000	Danny Willett (6)	52		Tour Championship [lower-alpha 4]

Unofficial events

The following events were sanctioned by the European Tour, but did not carry official money, nor were wins official.

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse	Winners	OWGR points	Notes
14 Jan	EurAsia Cup	Malaysia	n/a	Team Europe	n/a	Team event
6 May	GolfSixes	England	€1,000,000	Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan	n/a	Team event
12 Aug	European Golf Team Championships	Scotland	€550,000	Scott Fernández and Pedro Oriol (Men)	n/a	Team event
				Cajsa Persson and Linda Wessberg (Women)
				Iceland (Team)
30 Sep	Ryder Cup	France	n/a	Team Europe	n/a	Team event
25 Nov	ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf	Australia	US$7,000,000	Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters	n/a	Team event

Location of tournaments

class=notpageimage| Location of official tournaments of the 2018 European Tour in Europe. Major Championship Rolex Series event Regular event

class=notpageimage| Location of official tournaments of the 2018 European Tour outside Europe. Major Championship World Golf Championship Rolex Series event Regular event class=notpageimage| South Africa class=notpageimage| United Arab Emirates

Race to Dubai

The Race to Dubai was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system. ^{[3] [4]}

Pos.	Player		Majors					WGCs					Rolex Series									Top 10s in other ET events						Tmts		Points and money
			Mas	USO	Opn	PGA		WGC Mex	WGC MP	WGC Inv	WGC Cha		BMW PGA	Ita	Fra	Ire	Sco	Tur	Ned	DPW TC		1	2	3	4	5				Reg. points	Bon. ($)	Total points
1	Molinari		T20	T25	1st	T6		T25	17th	T39	T43		1st	2nd	•	•	•	•	•	T26								12		4,791,521	1,250,000	6,041,521
2	Reed		1st	4th	T28	CUT		T37	T9	T28	T7		•	•	•	•	T23	•	•	T2		T9						11		3,963,351	750,000	4,713,351
3	Fleetwood		T17	2nd	T12	T35		T14	T17	T14	T7		T20	T23	CUT	•	•	T7	•	T16		6th	1st	T6	T2	T9		19		3,799,755	600,000	4,399,755
4	Schauffele		T50	T6	T2	T35		T18	T17	68th	1st		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	T16								9		3,207,488	400,000	3,607,488
5	Rose		T12	T10	T2	T19		T37	•	•	T3		•	•	•	•	T9	1st	•	•		T10	8th					11		3,431,616	500,000 [lower-alpha 5]	3,431,616
6	Norén		CUT	T25	T17	CUT		T14	3rd	T31	T18		T3	T23	1st	•	•	•	•	T9								12		3,001,488	350,000	3,351,488
7	McIlroy		T5	CUT	T2	T50		•	T36	T6	T54		T2	•	•	T28	•	•	T21	T20		T3	2nd					13		2,990,654	325,000	3,315,654
8	Olesen		•	CUT	T12	T56		•	•	T3	T7		T60	1st	CUT	T6	•	T7	•	T45		10th	T2	4th				27		2,923,149	300,000	3,223,149
9	Li		T32	T16	T39	WD		63rd	T59	T39	T11		T43	T19	T21	CUT	T23	2nd	T5	T30		1st	T5	T9				27		2,843,291	275,000	3,118,291
10	Wallace		•	CUT	CUT	•		•	•	•	T50		T20	T51	CUT	CUT	CUT	T47	T5	T2		1st	T3	1st	1st			32		2,637,527	250,000	2,887,527

  Win

  Top 10

  Made cut

  Missed cut

  Withdrew

• Did not play

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Francesco Molinari	[5]
Players' Player of the Year (Seve Ballesteros Award)	Francesco Molinari	[6]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Shubhankar Sharma	[7]
Graduate of the Year	Erik van Rooyen	[8]

See also

• 2017 in golf
• 2018 in golf
• 2018 Challenge Tour
• 2018 European Senior Tour

Notes

1. 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.
2. AFR − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour.
3. Sunshine Tour flagship event
4. Also a Rolex Series tournament.
5. By missing the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, Rose was not eligible for the bonus pool.

References

1. "European Tour reveals changes for 2018 season". Bunkered. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
2. "2018 Tournament schedule". European Tour. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
3. "Race to Dubai Rankings". European Tour. 18 November 2018. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
4. Jackson, Keith (18 November 2018). "Francesco Molinari savours winning Race to Dubai in career-best year". Sky Sports. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
5. "Francesco Molinari named 2018 Hilton European Tour Golfer of the Year". Today's Golfer. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
6. "Irish Open champ Rahm receives Seve Ballesteros Award". Irish Golfer. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2023. Ahead of the WGC-Mexico Championship, the 2018 Seve Ballesteros Award winner Francesco Molinari presented Rahm with the trophy...
7. "Golfer Shubhankar Sharma wins Rookie of the year honours". The Times of India. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
8. "Van Rooyen wins Graduate award". Compleat Golfer. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2023.

External links

• Official website