2012 European Tour

The 2012 European Tour was the 41st season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

2012 European Tour season

Duration	5 January 2012 (2012-01-05) – 25 November 2012 (2012-11-25)
Number of official events	45[a]
Most wins	Branden Grace (4)
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	Ricardo Santos
← 2011 2013 →

Changes for 2012

Prior to the start of the 2011 season, the tour had announced their intention to realign the schedule with the calendar.^[1] As a result, in 2012 there were several changes from the previous season. There was initially one new tournament in 2012, the ISPS Handa Perth International, and several tournaments were dropped: the Castelló Masters, the Iskandar Johor Open, and the Alfred Dunhill Championship,^[2] which was played in December as part of the 2013 season.

During the season, the BMW Masters in China was added to the schedule,^[3] the Czech Open was cancelled,^[4] and three tournaments in Spain were also cancelled: the Iberdrola Open,^[5] the Madrid Masters,^[6] and the Andalucía Masters.^[7]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2012 season.^[8]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse	Winner[b]	OWGR points	Other tours[c]	Notes
8 Jan	Africa Open	South Africa	€1,000,000	Louis Oosthuizen (4)	20	AFR
15 Jan	Joburg Open	South Africa	€1,300,000	Branden Grace (1)	22	AFR
22 Jan	Volvo Golf Champions	South Africa	€2,000,000	Branden Grace (2)	32		Limited-field event
29 Jan	Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship	UAE	US$2,700,000	Robert Rock (2)	58
5 Feb	Commercialbank Qatar Masters	Qatar	US$2,500,000	Paul Lawrie (7)	48
12 Feb	Omega Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$2,500,000	Rafa Cabrera-Bello (2)	48
19 Feb	Avantha Masters	India	€1,800,000	Jbe' Kruger (1)	20	ASA
26 Feb	WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship	United States	US$8,500,000	Hunter Mahan (n/a)	76		World Golf Championship
11 Mar	WGC-Cadillac Championship	United States	US$8,500,000	Justin Rose (5)	78		World Golf Championship
18 Mar	Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol	Spain	€1,000,000	Julien Quesne (1)	24
25 Mar	Trophée Hassan II	Morocco	€1,500,000	Michael Hoey (4)	24
1 Apr	Sicilian Open	Italy	€1,000,000	Thorbjørn Olesen (1)	24
8 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$8,000,000	Bubba Watson (n/a)	100		Major championship
15 Apr	Maybank Malaysian Open	Malaysia	US$2,500,000	Louis Oosthuizen (5)	36	ASA
22 Apr	Volvo China Open	China	CN¥20,000,000	Branden Grace (3)	32	ONE
29 Apr	Ballantine's Championship	South Korea	€2,205,000	Bernd Wiesberger (1)	32	ASA, KOR
6 May	Reale Seguros Open de España	Spain	€2,000,000	Francesco Molinari (3)	30
13 May	Iberdrola Open	Spain	–	Cancelled[5]	–
13 May	Madeira Islands Open - Portugal	Portugal	€675,000	Ricardo Santos (1)	18	CHA
20 May	Volvo World Match Play Championship	Spain	€2,750,000	Nicolas Colsaerts (2)	34		Limited-field event
27 May	BMW PGA Championship	England	€4,500,000	Luke Donald (7)	64		Flagship event
3 Jun	ISPS Handa Wales Open	Wales	£1,800,000	Thongchai Jaidee (5)	28
9 Jun	Nordea Masters	Sweden	€1,500,000	Lee Westwood (22)	26
17 Jun	Saint-Omer Open	France	€500,000	Darren Fichardt (3)	18	CHA
17 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$8,000,000	Webb Simpson (n/a)	100		Major championship
24 Jun	BMW International Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Danny Willett (1)	30
1 Jul	Irish Open	Northern Ireland	€2,000,000	Jamie Donaldson (1)	38
8 Jul	Alstom Open de France	France	€3,000,000	Marcel Siem (2)	46
15 Jul	Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open	Scotland	£2,500,000	Jeev Milkha Singh (4)	48
22 Jul	The Open Championship	England	£5,000,000	Ernie Els (27)	100		Major championship
28 Jul	Lyoness Open	Austria	€1,000,000	Bernd Wiesberger (2)	24
5 Aug	WGC-Bridgestone Invitational	United States	US$8,500,000	Keegan Bradley (n/a)	76		World Golf Championship
12 Aug	PGA Championship	United States	US$8,000,000	Rory McIlroy (4)	100		Major championship
19 Aug	Czech Open	Czech Republic	–	Cancelled[4]	–
26 Aug	Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles	Scotland	£1,400,000	Paul Lawrie (8)	30
2 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	€2,100,000	Richie Ramsay (2)	32	ASA
9 Sep	KLM Open	Netherlands	€1,800,000	Peter Hanson (5)	30
16 Sep	BMW Italian Open	Italy	€1,500,000	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (6)	28
23 Sep	Madrid Masters	Spain	–	Cancelled[6]	–
7 Oct	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	US$5,000,000	Branden Grace (4)	46		Pro-Am
14 Oct	Portugal Masters	Portugal	€2,200,000	Shane Lowry (2)	34
21 Oct	Andalucía Masters	Spain	–	Cancelled[7]	–
21 Oct	ISPS Handa Perth International	Australia	US$2,000,000	Bo Van Pelt (n/a)	22	ANZ	New tournament
28 Oct	BMW Masters	China	US$7,000,000	Peter Hanson (6)	56		New to European Tour Limited-field event
4 Nov	WGC-HSBC Champions	China	US$7,000,000	Ian Poulter (12)	64		World Golf Championship
11 Nov	Barclays Singapore Open	Singapore	US$6,000,000	Matteo Manassero (3)	48	ASA
18 Nov	UBS Hong Kong Open	Hong Kong	US$2,750,000	Miguel Ángel Jiménez (19)	32	ASA
18 Nov	SA Open Championship	South Africa	€1,000,000	Henrik Stenson (7)	32	AFR[d]
25 Nov	DP World Tour Championship, Dubai	UAE	US$8,000,000	Rory McIlroy (5)	58		Tour Championship

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
30 Sep	Ryder Cup	United States	n/a	Team Europe	n/a	Team event

Location of tournaments

Location of official tournaments of the 2012 European Tour in Europe. Major Championship Flagship event Regular event

Location of official tournaments of the 2012 European Tour outside Europe. Major Championship World Golf Championship Tour Championship Regular event South Africa United Arab Emirates

Race to Dubai

The Race to Dubai was based on prize money won during the season, calculated in Euros.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Pos.	Player		Majors					WGCs					Principal events			Top 10s in other ET events								Tmts		Money
			Mas	USO	Opn	PGA		WGC MP	WGC Cad	WGC Inv	WGC Cha		BMW PGA	DPW TC		1	2	3	4	5	6	7				Reg. (€)	Bon. ($)	Total (€)
1	McIlroy		T40	CUT	T60	1st		2nd	3rd	T5	•		CUT	1st		2nd	T5	T10	2nd	3rd				15		4,738,027	1,000,000	5,519,118
2	Rose		T8	T21	CUT	T3		T33	1st	T5	T24		T2	2nd		T9	T9	T6						13		3,260,635	650,000	3,768,345
3	Oosthuizen		2nd	CUT	T19	T21		T17	T60	4th	T6		•	5th		1st	T7	1st	T6					16		2,796,819	500,000	3,187,364
4	Hanson		T3	CUT	T23	T7		T5	T4	T63	T24		CUT	T16		T2	T3	1st	1st					21		2,730,006	375,000	3,022,916
5	Poulter		7th	T41	T9	T3		T33	T60	T29	1st		T10	T26		T9	T4	4th						15		2,327,402	325,000	2,581,257
6	Grace		•	T51	T77	CUT		•	T35	T36	T62		5th	6th		1st	1st	1st	1st					26		2,287,701	275,000	2,502,501
7	Donald		T32	CUT	T5	T32		T33	T6	T8	T18		1st	T3		3rd								13		2,197,794	225,000	2,373,540
8	F. Molinari		T19	T29	T39	T54		T17	T13	T40	T39		T7	T34		T8	T6	1st	2nd	2nd	T6	T5		25		2,078,538	175,000	2,215,229
9	McDowell		T12	T2	T5	T11		T33	T13	T24	T42		CUT	T52		T3	2nd							16		1,847,420	125,000	1,945,056
10	Lawrie		T24	•	T34	T48		T9	T60	T50	T36		T2	T48		T10	T8	1st	T3	1st	T6	T10		25		1,832,272	100,000	1,910,381

  Win

  Top 10

  Made cut

  Missed cut

• Did not play

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Rory McIlroy	[13]
Players' Player of the Year	Rory McIlroy	[14]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Ricardo Santos	[15]

See also

• 2012 in golf
• 2012 European Senior Tour

Notes

1. A further four tournaments were scheduled but were cancelled.
2. 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 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.
3. AFR − Sunshine Tour; ANZ − PGA Tour of Australasia; ASA − Asian Tour; CHA − Challenge Tour; KOR − Korean Tour; ONE − OneAsia Tour.
4. Sunshine Tour flagship event