2020 European Tour

Rule changes

In order to combat slow play, from the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship onwards, regulations were introduced whereby a player would receive a one-stroke penalty for two bad times during a tournament.^[1]

Scheduling changes

With the addition of golf at the Olympic Games to the schedule in 2020, the Irish Open was moved to May from its previous date in July in order to avoid a clash with the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, which had already been moved to avoid the Olympics. The Open de France was then scheduled opposite the WGC Invitational, and the British Masters was scheduled opposite the Olympics.^[2]

Tournament changes

• Format change: the Scandinavian Invitation (formerly the Scandinavian Masters) became the Scandinavian Mixed, a co-sanctioned event with the Ladies European Tour consisting of a field of 78 men and 78 women.
• No longer part of the schedule: ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth, Belgian Knockout

In-season changes

Due to the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, the Honma Hong Kong Open, originally scheduled for 28 November – 1 December 2019 as a co-sanctioned event with the Asian Tour, was rescheduled for 9–12 January 2020 as an Asian Tour event without European Tour sanctioning.^[4][5]

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the remainder of the schedule.

• On 14 February, the Maybank Championship in Malaysia and the Volvo China Open were postponed.^[6] Sponsors subsequently confirmed that the Maybank Championship had been cancelled.^[7]
• On 6 March, the Magical Kenya Open was postponed.^[8]
• On 11 March, the Hero Indian Open was postponed,^[9] and the D+D Real Czech Masters was cancelled.^[10]
• On 13 March, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play was cancelled.^[11]
• On 17 March, the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters was postponed.^[12]
• On 19 March, the GolfSixes Cascais was cancelled and the Made in Denmark was postponed.^[13] Organisers subsequently confirmed that the Made in Denmark had been cancelled.^[14]
• On 30 March, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open was postponed.^[15]
• On 6 April, the Trophée Hassan II was postponed and the inaugural version of the Scandinavian Mixed was cancelled.^[16] The R&A also announced the cancellation of The Open Championship in 2020 and the seasons other major championships were rescheduled.^[17][18]
• On 16 April, the PGA Tour announced the rescheduling of several tournaments, including the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.^[19]
• On 17 April, the BMW International Open and Open de France were cancelled, and the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open was postponed.^[20]
• On 1 May, the Omega European Masters was cancelled.^[21]
• On 28 May, the tour announced a revamp to the 2020 schedule including a 6-week "UK swing" in July and August; starting with the Betfred British Masters which was brought forward a week, finishing on 25 July. That would be followed by revivals of the English Open and the Wales Open, and three new tournaments: the English Championship, the Celtic Classic and the UK Championship. In addition to this, four Rolex Series events were given rescheduled dates, with the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open and the BMW PGA Championship being pushed back into October, with the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai being played in December.^[22] It was also announced that the Porsche European Open had been cancelled.^[23]
• On 15 June, it was announced that both the European Tour and the Challenge Tour would return on 9 July with two consecutive dual-ranking events in Austria: the Austrian Open and the Euram Bank Open.^[24]
• On 3 July, it was announced that the Hero Indian Open had been cancelled.^[25]
• On 7 July, organisers announced the cancellation of the KLM Open.^[26]
• On 8 July, new dates were announced for the postponed Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters. The Portugal Masters was also rescheduled, with both tournaments being held during September.^[27] Later in the day, it was announced that the 43rd Ryder Cup matches had been postponed until 2021.^[28]
• On 10 July, new dates in November were announced for the Magical Kenya Open, originally scheduled for March.^[29] The Challenge Tour's Open de Portugal was also added to the schedule as a dual-ranking event; held in September following the Portugal Masters. The addition created a three event "Iberian Swing" starting with the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters.^[30]
• On 13 July, the cancellation of the Mutuactivos Open de España was announced after suitable dates could not be found in the revised schedule.^[31]
• On 27 July, the cancellation of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was announced, with organisers citing complexities of accommodating the European Tour's COVID-19 safety plan given the event's scale as an international pro-am and its traditional use of three separate venues.^[32][33]
• On 14 August, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open was rescheduled to 24–27 September with a change of venue to Galgorm Castle in Northern Ireland and a reduced prize fund, which also meant the loss of its status as a Rolex Series event.^[34]
• On 17 August, it was announced that the previously rescheduled Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open and the BMW PGA Championship had both been forward one week, such that they would directly follow the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and create a second "UK swing".^[35]
• On 28 August, two Rolex Series events, the Turkish Airlines Open and the Nedbank Golf Challenge, were cancelled and a third, the Italian Open, was rescheduled and downgraded. Three new tournaments were also announced, to take place in mid to late October and early November: the Scottish Championship, extending the second UK Swing to four tournaments, and the Cyprus Open and the Cyprus Classic, the first tour events to be held in Cyprus.^[36] On 12 October, the Cyprus Classic was renamed as the Cyprus Showdown with a novel elimination-style format.^[37]
• On 1 September, the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the WGC-HSBC Champions due to the COVID-19 pandemic was announced.^[38]
• On 10 September, the Magical Kenya Open was cancelled; it had previously been postponed in March and rescheduled to November.^[39]
• On 16 September, it was announced that the Australian PGA Championship had been postponed, with the tournament provisionally rescheduled for February 2021. As such, it no longer formed part of the 2020 season schedule.^[40] On 16 October, it was announced that it had been cancelled.^[41]
• On 20 October, it was announced that the Joburg Open had been added to the calendar; scheduled for the week following the Masters Tournament, it was last held in 2017.^[42]
• On 21 October, the Alfred Dunhill Championship was added to the schedule also, creating a "South African Swing"; it was the second edition of the tournament during the 2020 season, the first having been held in November/December 2019.^[43]
• On 22 October, the three-week "South African Swing" was completed with the addition of the South African Open to the schedule; it was also the second edition of the tournament during the 2020 season, the first having been held in January.^[44]
• On 9 November, a final adjustment to the schedule was made. The Golf in Dubai Championship was added as the penultimate event of the 2020 schedule, preceding the season ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.^[45]

Unofficial events

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

Points distribution

The distribution of Race to Dubai points for 2020 European Tour events were as follows:^[48]

Final standings

The Race to Dubai was based on tournament results during the season, calculated using a points-based system.^[49][50]

More information Pos., Player ...

Pos.	Player		Majors					WGCs					Rolex Series							Top 10s in other ET events				Total pts		Tmts		Money[t]
			Opn	PGA	USO	Mas		WGC Mex	WGC MP	WGC Inv	WGC Cha		Abu	Sco	BMW PGA	Tur	Ned	DPW TC		1	2	3						Reg. (€m)	Bon. ($k)
1	Westwood		C A N C E L L E D	•	T13 151	T38 69		T22 99	C A N C E L L E D	•	C A N C E L L E D		1st 1165	T19 80	T18 88	C A N C E L L E D	C A N C E L L E D	2nd 1335		T10 33				3,128		15		2.3	500
2	Fitzpatrick			CUT 0	CUT 0	T46 54		T37 63		T6 226			T2 523	T42 41	T7 180			1st 2000						3,110		10		3.5	300
3	Reed			T13 151	T13 151	T10 185		1st 1500		T47 48			•	•	T3 394			T3 676						3,104		8		3.0	200
4	Fleetwood			T29 89	CUT 0	T19 119		T18 110		T35 63			T2 523	2nd 780	T13 103			T10 215		T3 113				2,183		11		1.7	150
5	Morikawa			1st 1665	CUT 0	T44 61		T42 53		T20 103			•	•	•			T10 215						2,097		6		1.9	100
6	Perez			T22 105	CUT 0	T46 54		T53 34		T65 22			T2 523	T14 99	2nd 780			7th 359						2,073		14		1.6
7	Bezuidenhout			CUT 0	55th 40	T38 69		T29 75		T20 103			T59 21	CUT 0	T40 46			T14 157		2nd 472	1st 460	1st 335		1,875		17		1.1
8	Rai			•	•	•		•		•			CUT 0	1st 1165	CUT 0			T51 53		T10 35	2nd 222	3rd 125		1,741		17		1.3
9	Hatton			CUT 0	CUT 0	CUT 0		T6 270		T69 18			•	•	1st 1165			T8 284						1,737		7		1.4
10	Oosthuizen			T33 79	3rd 627	T23 110		T51 41		T6 226			5th 297	•	•			•		2nd 222				1,646		8		1.6

Close

Final standings

The UK Swing Order of Merit was based on tournament results during the UK Swing, calculated using a points-based system.^[52][54]

More information Pos., Player ...

Pos.	Player	Event						Total pts	Tmts	Donation (£)
		1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Rasmus Højgaard	2nd 222	T6 56	3rd 125	•	•	1st 335	738	4	60,000
2	Sam Horsfield	T10 36	1st 335	CUT 0	1st 335	T44 10	•	716	5	50,000
3	Andy Sullivan	T4 85	T41 12	1st 335	T47 9	•	T9 42	483	5	40,000
4	Thomas Detry	CUT 0	2nd 222	T56 7	2nd 222	•	•	451	4	30,000
5	Renato Paratore	1st 335	T28 18	T34 14	CUT 0	T27 17	•	384	5	20,000
6	Romain Langasque	T53 7	T57 6	T26 18	•	1st 335	CUT 0	367	5	10,000 (each)
7	Sami Välimäki	CUT 0	•	•	T6 56	2nd 222	•	278	3
8	Adrián Otaegui	T35 15	CUT 0	2nd 222	T14 27	T37 14	•	277	5
9	Justin Walters	CUT 0	CUT 0	CUT 0	T39 13	CUT 0	2nd 222	235	6
10	Matthew Jordan	T17 25	CUT 0	CUT 0	T47 9	T3 113	T19 23	170	6

Close

U.S. Open qualifiers

The leading players in the points standings following the ISPS Handa Wales Open, who qualified for 2020 U.S. Open, were as follows:^[55]