2016 European Tour

The 2016 European Tour was the 45th season of the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972.

2016 European Tour season

Duration	26 November 2015 (2015-11-26) – 20 November 2016 (2016-11-20)
Number of official events	47
Most wins	Alex Norén (4)
Race to Dubai	Henrik Stenson
Golfer of the Year	Henrik Stenson
Players' Player of the Year	Henrik Stenson
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Wang Jeung-hun
Graduate of the Year	Nacho Elvira
← 2015 2017 →

Changes for 2016

Rule changes

For the 2016 season, the European Tour modified its membership requirements from 13 tournaments inclusive of the four majors and four World Golf Championships, to 5 tournaments exclusive of them; the change was intended to make it easier for United States-based players outside the top-50 in the OWGR to retain their membership, as they may not be eligible for the majors and WGCs.^[1][2]

Schedule changes

There were many changes from the previous season. Seven tournaments were lost from the schedule, the most significant being the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational which, due to a clash of dates with the 100th edition of the Open de France, was not sanctioned by the European Tour in 2016.^[3] Other tournaments which were removed were the Africa Open, the Malaysian Open, the Madeira Islands Open, the Russian Open, the BMW Masters and the Hong Kong Open, which would take place early in the 2017 season due to a change in dates from October to December. There were four additions to the schedule: the return of the Perth International, the first European Tour sanctioned Australian PGA Championship; the inaugural Maybank Championship, which replaced the Malaysian Open;^[4] and the Olympic Men's Golf Competition.

The Final Series was also adjusted; the Nedbank Golf Challenge replaced the dropped BMW Masters, and the series was reduced to three events with the removal of the WGC-HSBC Champions.^[1][2] As a result of the change of dates, the Nedbank Golf Challenge was played twice during the season.

The Fiji International^[5] and the King's Cup^[6] were added to the schedule during the year.

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2016 season.^[7]

Date	Tournament	Host country	Purse	Winner[a]	OWGR points	Other tours[b]	Notes
29 Nov	Alfred Dunhill Championship	South Africa	€1,500,000	Charl Schwartzel (10)	22	AFR
6 Dec	Australian PGA Championship	Australia	A$1,750,000	Nathan Holman (1)	20	ANZ	New to European Tour
6 Dec	Nedbank Golf Challenge	South Africa	US$6,500,000	Marc Leishman (n/a)	44	AFR	Limited-field event
10 Jan	BMW SA Open	South Africa	R15,000,000	Brandon Stone (1)	32	AFR[c]
17 Jan	Joburg Open	South Africa	R16,500,000	Haydn Porteous (1)	19	AFR
24 Jan	Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship	UAE	US$2,700,000	Rickie Fowler (n/a)	52
30 Jan	Commercial Bank Qatar Masters	Qatar	US$2,500,000	Branden Grace (7)	36
7 Feb	Omega Dubai Desert Classic	UAE	US$2,650,000	Danny Willett (4)	48
14 Feb	Tshwane Open	South Africa	R18,500,000	Charl Schwartzel (11)	19	AFR
21 Feb	Maybank Championship Malaysia	Malaysia	US$3,000,000	Marcus Fraser (3)	38	ASA	New tournament
28 Feb	ISPS Handa Perth International	Australia	A$1,750,000	Louis Oosthuizen (8)	23	ANZ, ASA
6 Mar	WGC-Cadillac Championship	United States	US$9,500,000	Adam Scott (10)	76		World Golf Championship
13 Mar	True Thailand Classic	Thailand	US$1,750,000	Scott Hend (2)	24	ASA
20 Mar	Hero Indian Open	India	US$1,660,000	Shiv Chawrasia (3)	19	ASA
27 Mar	WGC-Dell Match Play	United States	US$9,500,000	Jason Day (n/a)	76		World Golf Championship
10 Apr	Masters Tournament	United States	US$10,000,000	Danny Willett (5)	100		Major championship
17 Apr	Real Club Valderrama Open de España	Spain	€2,000,000	Andrew Johnston (1)	28
25 Apr	Shenzhen International	China	US$2,800,000	Lee Soo-min (1)	24
1 May	Volvo China Open	China	CN¥20,000,000	Li Haotong (1)	26	ONE
8 May	Trophée Hassan II	Morocco	€1,500,000	Wang Jeung-hun (1)	24
15 May	AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open	Mauritius	€1,000,000	Wang Jeung-hun (2)	17	AFR, ASA
22 May	Dubai Duty Free Irish Open	Ireland	€4,000,000	Rory McIlroy (13)	46
29 May	BMW PGA Championship	England	€5,000,000	Chris Wood (3)	64		Flagship event
5 Jun	Nordea Masters	Sweden	€1,500,000	Matt Fitzpatrick (2)	24
12 Jun	Lyoness Open	Austria	€1,000,000	Wu Ashun (2)	24
19 Jun	U.S. Open	United States	US$10,000,000	Dustin Johnson (n/a)	100		Major championship
26 Jun	BMW International Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Henrik Stenson (10)	34
3 Jul	Open de France	France	€3,500,000	Thongchai Jaidee (8)	42
10 Jul	Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open	Scotland	£3,250,000	Alex Norén (5)	46
17 Jul	The Open Championship	Scotland	£6,500,000	Henrik Stenson (11)	100		Major championship
31 Jul	King's Cup	Thailand	US$750,000	Chan Shih-chang (1)	14	ASA	New to European Tour
31 Jul	PGA Championship	United States	US$10,500,000	Jimmy Walker (n/a)	100		Major championship
7 Aug	Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Match Play	Scotland	€1,000,000	Anthony Wall (2)	24		Limited-field event
21 Aug	D+D Real Czech Masters	Czech Republic	€1,000,000	Paul Peterson (1)	24
28 Aug	Made in Denmark	Denmark	€1,800,000	Thomas Pieters (3)	24
4 Sep	Omega European Masters	Switzerland	€2,700,000	Alex Norén (6)	30	ASA
11 Sep	KLM Open	Netherlands	€1,800,000	Joost Luiten (5)	24
18 Sep	Italian Open	Italy	€3,000,000	Francesco Molinari (4)	36
25 Sep	Porsche European Open	Germany	€2,000,000	Alexander Lévy (3)	24
9 Oct	Fiji International	Fiji	A$1,500,000	Brandt Snedeker (n/a)	16	ANZ	New to European Tour
9 Oct	Alfred Dunhill Links Championship	Scotland	US$5,000,000	Tyrrell Hatton (1)	40		Pro-Am
16 Oct	British Masters	England	£3,000,000	Alex Norén (7)	34
23 Oct	Portugal Masters	Portugal	€2,000,000	Pádraig Harrington (15)	24
30 Oct	WGC-HSBC Champions	China	US$9,500,000	Hideki Matsuyama (n/a)	70		World Golf Championship
6 Nov	Turkish Airlines Open	Turkey	US$7,000,000	Thorbjørn Olesen (4)	30		Race to Dubai finals series
13 Nov	Nedbank Golf Challenge	South Africa	US$7,000,000	Alex Norén (8)	46		Race to Dubai finals series
20 Nov	DP World Tour Championship, Dubai	UAE	US$8,000,000	Matt Fitzpatrick (3)	52		Race to Dubai finals series

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	Winner(s)	OWGR points	Notes
17 Jan	EurAsia Cup	Malaysia	n/a	Team Europe	n/a	Team event
14 Aug	Olympic Games	Brazil	n/a	Justin Rose[d]	46	Limited-field event
2 Oct	Ryder Cup	United States	n/a	Team USA	n/a	Team event
27 Nov	ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf	Australia	US$8,000,000	Søren Kjeldsen and Thorbjørn Olesen	n/a	Team event

Location of tournaments

Location of official tournaments of the 2016 European Tour in Europe. Major Championship Flagship event Final Series event Regular event

Location of official tournaments of the 2016 European Tour outside Europe. Major Championship World Golf Championship Final Series event Regular event & South Africa United Arab Emirates

Race to Dubai

The Race to Dubai was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.^[8][9]

Pos.	Player		Majors					WGCs[e]				Flagship event and R2D finals series					Top 10s in other ET events								Tmts		Points and money[f]
			Mas	USO	Opn	PGA		WGC Cad	WGC MP	WGC Cha		BMW PGA	Tur	Ned	DPW TC		1	2	3	4	5	6	7				Reg. points	Bon. ($)	Total points
1	Stenson		T24	WD	1st	T7		T28	•	T2		•	•	8th	T9		T2	T3	T6	T4	1st				15		4,148,402	1,250,000	5,289,506
2	Willett		1st	T37	T53	T79		T3	T28	75th		3rd	T68	T11	T50		T4	1st	2nd						22		3,734,528	750,000	4,419,190
3	Norén		•	CUT	T46	T49		•	•	T12		T43	•	1st	T23		T6	T9	8th	1st	2nd	1st	1st		22		3,447,323	600,000	3,995,053
4	Hatton		•	•	T5	T10		•	•	T23		T7	T10	T25	2nd		T8	T5	2nd	1st	T9				23		3,233,586	500,000	3,690,027
5	McIlroy		T10	CUT	T5	CUT		T3	4th	T4		•	•	•	T9		T3	T6	1st	3rd					12		2,971,988	400,000	3,337,141
6	Fitzpatrick		T7	T54	CUT	T49		T35	T38	T16		T47	•	T20	1st		1st	T9	5th	T7					26		2,395,788	350,000	2,715,297
7	Grace		CUT	T5	T72	T4		T23	T18	T30		•	•	T3	T27		T8	T4	T4	T5	1st				16		2,098,915	325,000	2,395,602
8	Cabrera-Bello		T17	T32	T39	T49		T11	3rd	T19		T22	•	T55	T23		T2	T2	T8	4th					21		2,069,184	300,000	2,343,049
9	Wiesberger		T34	CUT	CUT	CUT		T14	T51	T35		T15	4th	•	T4		T7	2nd	5th	T7	2nd				25		2,015,865	275,000	2,266,907
10	Oosthuizen		T15	T23	CUT	T22		T14	2nd	T45		•	•	9th	T46		T7	1st							16		1,938,370	250,000	2,166,590

  Win

  Top 10

  Made cut

  Missed cut

  Withdrew

• Did not play

Awards

Award	Winner	Ref.
Golfer of the Year	Henrik Stenson	[11]
Players' Player of the Year (Seve Ballesteros Award)	Henrik Stenson	[12]
Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year	Wang Jeung-hun	[13]
Graduate of the Year	Nacho Elvira	[14]

See also

• 2015 in golf
• 2016 in golf
• 2016 Challenge Tour
• 2016 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; ONE − OneAsia Tour.
3. Sunshine Tour flagship event
4. Originally the European Tour counted this as Rose's 9th official win, but the Olympic Games tournament has been retrospectively reclassified as an approved special event.
5. The 2016 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was not sanctioned by the European Tour due to a scheduling clash with the Open de France.
6. In addition to tournament prize money, the top 10 point scorers received a share of a $5m bonus pool.^[10]