European Tour rebrands as DP World Tour

The European Tour and the DP World have entered into an agreement that will see a name change to one of the world’s biggest professional golf tours.

The European Tour is no more. As of this week, it will now be known as the DP World Tour.

And before you think their new name is a little internationally presumptuous, then you should know that the organisation that bought the naming rights is DP World (Dubai Ports), a ports and shipping company based in Dubai.

And so we have DP World — Tour.

More details from the official media release:

The new look DP World Tour will see total prize money break through the $200 million mark for the first time, with a new minimum prize fund of $2 million for all tournaments solely sanctioned by the DP World Tour.

In 2022, the DP World Tour will represent a truly global tour through an international schedule, that will feature a minimum of 47 tournaments in 27 different countries, including new tournaments in the UAE, Japan, South Africa and Belgium and an expanded Rolex Series comprising five events: the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic, the Genesis Scottish Open, the BMW PGA Championship and the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

For the first time, it will also feature three tournaments co-sanctioned with the PGA TOUR – the aforementioned Genesis Scottish Open, as well as the Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship taking place in the United States – as a result of the Strategic Alliance between male professional golf’s two leading Tours.

This isn’t the first time the European Tour has been renamed.

In 1984 it was known as the Volvo Tour which Mike Clayton recalled as bringing in more player perks and importantly, more money.

I remember the Volvo Tour. 1984. All of a sudden we had Courtesy Cars, Titleist range balls, Mizuno truck every week. Volvo PGA moved to Wentworth. Massive upgrade for the players. No more taxis, caddies foxing balls or do it yourself club repairs.

— Mike Clayton (@mikeclaytongolf) November 9, 2021