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.
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. Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year was Portugal's Ricardo Santos.

Schedule

The table below shows the 2012 European Tour schedule, 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.
Prior to the start of the 2011 season, the tour had announced their intention to realign the schedule with the calendar. 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, which was played in December as part of the 2013 season.
During the season, the BMW Masters in China was added to the schedule, the Czech Open was cancelled, and three tournaments in Spain were also cancelled: the Iberdrola Open, the Madrid Masters, and the Andalucía Masters.

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

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

Awards

Golfer of the Month

The winners of the European Tour Golfer of the Month Award:
MonthPlayerCountry
JanuaryBranden Grace
FebruaryPaul Lawrie
MarchRory McIlroy
AprilLouis Oosthuizen
MayLuke Donald
JuneJamie Donaldson
JulyErnie Els
AugustRory McIlroy
SeptemberIan Poulter
OctoberPeter Hanson
NovemberMiguel Ángel Jiménez