2012 European Tour

The 2012 European Tour was the fourth edition of the Race to Dubai and the 41st season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972.

2012 European Tour season
Duration5 January 2012 (2012-01-05) – 25 November 2012 (2012-11-25)
Number of official events45[lower-alpha 1]
Most wins4:
Branden Grace
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 →

The Race to Dubai was won by Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who also collected the Golfer of the Year award having also headed the PGA Tour money list and ascended to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking during 2012.[1] Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year was Portugal's Ricardo Santos.

Changes for 2012

Prior to the start of the 2011 season, the tour had announced their intention to realign the schedule with the calendar.[2] As a result, in 2012 there were several changes from the previous season. There was initially one new tournament in 2012, the Perth International, and several tournaments were dropped: the Castelló Masters, the Iskandar Johor Open, and the Alfred Dunhill Championship,[3] which was played in December as part of the 2013 season.

During the season, the BMW Masters in China was added to the schedule,[4] the Czech Open was cancelled,[5] and three tournaments in Spain were also cancelled: the Iberdrola Open,[6] the Madrid Masters,[7] and the Andalucía Masters.[8]

Schedule

The following table lists official events during the 2012 season,[9] which comprised 45 tournaments counting for the Race to Dubai, including the four major championships and four World Golf Championships, and one team competition. The season began in January with the Africa Open in South Africa, culminating with the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in November.

Date Tournament Host country Purse Winner[lower-alpha 2] OWGR
points		 Other
tours[lower-alpha 3]		 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
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 –
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
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 –
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 –
7 Oct Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Scotland US$5,000,000 Branden Grace (4) 46
14 Oct Portugal Masters Portugal €2,200,000 Shane Lowry (2) 34
21 Oct Andalucía Masters Spain – Cancelled –
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
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 SA Open Championship South Africa €1,000,000 Henrik Stenson (7) 32 AFR[lower-alpha 4]
18 Nov UBS Hong Kong Open Hong Kong US$2,750,000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez (19) 32 ASA
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 Two 12-man teams

Location of tournaments

Race to Dubai

Since 2009, the European Tour's money list has been known as the "Race to Dubai". It is based on money earned during the season and is calculated in euro, with earnings from tournaments that award prize money in other currencies being converted at the exchange rate available the week of the event. The following table shows the final top-10 in the 2012 standings and includes the bonus pool.

RankPlayerEventsPrize money
(€)
1 Rory McIlroy155,519,118
2 Justin Rose133,768,345
3 Louis Oosthuizen163,187,364
4 Peter Hanson213,022,916
5 Ian Poulter152,581,257
6 Branden Grace262,502,501
7 Luke Donald132,373,540
8 Francesco Molinari252,215,229
9 Graeme McDowell161,945,056
10 Paul Lawrie251,910,381
  • Full list can be found here.

Ernie Els would have qualified for the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in 7th place but failed to meet the minimum required starts of 12.

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 Ricardo Santos

Golfer of the Month

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

MonthPlayer
January Branden Grace
February Paul Lawrie
March Rory McIlroy
April Louis Oosthuizen
May Luke Donald
June Jamie Donaldson
July Ernie Els
August Rory McIlroy
September Ian Poulter
October Peter Hanson
November Miguel Ángel Jiménez

See also

Notes
  1. A further four tournaments were scheduled but were cancelled.
  2. 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.
  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

References
  1. "Rory McIlroy named European Tour golfer of the year". BBC Sport. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  2. "European Tour unveils 2011 Race to Dubai schedule". BBC Sport. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  3. "European Tour releases complete 2012 schedule". Golf Channel. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  4. "European Tour adds BMW Masters in Shanghai to schedule". BBC Sport. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  5. "Czech Open canceled for 2012". Golf Channel. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  6. "Lacking a sponsor, Iberdrola Open cancels". Golfweek (USA Today). 20 March 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  7. "Madrid Open wiped from calendar". ESPN. Associated Press. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  8. "Andalucia Masters canceled". ESPN. Associated Press. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  9. "European Tour schedule". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
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