European Tour rebrands to DP World Tour as it reaches 50th anniversary

Lee Westwood won the European Tour's Race to Dubai last year as Matt Fitzpatrick won the DP World Tour Championship

The European Tour will become the DP World Tour from the start of the 2022 season and feature a total prize fund in excess of $200m (£147m).

For the first time, three events will be co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour.

"This announcement is momentous and will herald a new era in global golf," said European Tour chief Keith Pelley.

The move comes as the European Tour, which was founded in 1972, reaches its 50th anniversary.

"The entire ecosystem of our Tour will be strengthened because of this hugely significant deal," added Pelley. "That was essential to us and to DP World, who have been an incredible supporter of our Tour as well as golf more widely, from grassroots through to the elite professional game.

"The DP World Tour is, therefore, a natural evolution of our decade-long partnership, and the presence of 'World' in our new title better reflects our global reach."

All events solely sanctioned by the DP World Tour will have a minimum prize fund of $2m (£1.47m), while the three events co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour are part of the strategic alliance signed between the organisations last year.

The lucrative Rolex Series expands from four tournaments to five, while the season-ending DP World Tour Championship will be the first regular European Tour event to feature a prize fund of $10m (£7.35m).

The first event in the 2022 season will be this month's Joburg Open in South Africa, which runs from 22-25 November.

Dubai-based DP World has been involved with the European Tour since 2009 when the Order of Merit was replaced by the Race to Dubai, which now culminates with the DP World Tour Championship.

The news comes after former world number one Greg Norman announced he was involved with a series of Saudi-backed tournaments on the Asian Tour, while the Premier Golf League continues to try to get involved with the PGA Tour.

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