DP World Tour unveils 2025 schedule with some major changes

The new DP World Tour schedule for 2025 features some big changes.

The return of the Austrian and Turkish Opens, as well as the Nedbank Golf Challenge, headline a bumper DP World Tour global schedule for 2025.

As the PIF-PGA Tour merger talks continue to drag on, the DP World Tour has finally released its 2025 schedule with a record prize fund, three old favorites returning, and one notable absentee.

A minimum of 42 Race to Dubai events are set to take place across 26 different countries over the next 12 months, with new national Opens in both Turkey and Austria. The Turkish Open, which will be played at Regnum Carya in May, marks the Tour’s return to Turkey for the first time in six years, while the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa is also making a comeback after a one-year hiatus.

The total prize fund of $153 million (not including major championships) for the 2025 season is another record for the Tour, though the inability to secure a title sponsor for the European Open means the German event has been left off the calendar altogether. Other notable omissions include the popular Scandinavian Mixed, plus the Andalucía Masters, Dubai Invitational, Qatar Masters, and two relatively new South African events (the SDC Championship and Jonsson Workwear Open).

For the second year in a row, the DP World Tour season will be split into five Global Swings, followed by another ‘Back 9’ series, which will take on even greater significance when the European Ryder Cup qualification process concludes at the British Masters on August 24.

A host of new venues include a return to the K Club for the Irish Open two weeks later, plus a first visit to the Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche since 1982 for the Open de France while maintenance work is carried out at Le Golf National.

The Genesis Scottish Open will once again feature as one of five Rolex Series events, alongside the Dubai Desert Classic in January, the BMW PGA Championship in September, and a season-ending double header in the Middle East in November.

A run of 13 tournaments, plus the Ryder Cup, in a 15-week stretch to end the season will almost certainly lead to questions of fatigue once again, though DP World Tour chief Guy Kinnings is counting on several PGA Tour stars playing in Europe’s biggest events following the conclusion of the FedEx Cup in late August.

“Our 2025 schedule once again demonstrates and celebrates the truly global nature of the DP World Tour,” said Kinnings.

“The introduction of the Global Swings in the current season has given us a strong, clear narrative that showcases the diversity of our membership and the places and cultures we visit. This will be further enhanced through the return of national Opens in Turkey and Austria in the first phase of our 2025 season.

“Then, as we have seen in recent weeks with great success in terms of attendance, viewing figures and compelling drama, the Back 9 provides a real opportunity for our Tour internationally as we build momentum into the play-offs.”

When does the new season start?

The 2025 season begins at the Australian PGA Championship, which takes place just four days after the 2024 DP World Tour Championship concludes this Sunday. The event at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane forms part of the Tour’s Opening Swing, which will take place over five consecutive weeks, in Australia (twice), South Africa (twice) and then Mauritius, before players are treated to a three-week winter break.

How many events in the UK and Ireland feature as part of the new schedule?

The DP World Tour remains wedded to six, with the co-sanctioned Genesis Scottish Open kick-starting a run of half a dozen British or Irish events in 12 weeks. The Open Championship at Royal Portrush follows a week later, from July 17-20, before the British Masters signals the start of the Back 9 Swing from August 21-24. The Irish Open and BMW Championship will likely act as warm-up events in September for the Ryder Cup, with the Dunhill Links following four days after the ‘Battle at Bethpage’.

When does the 2025 Race to Dubai season finish?

The DP World Tour season will conclude with another play-off double header in November, with the top 70 players in the Race to Dubai battling it out at the Abu Dhabi Championship. Only the top 50 players will then advance to the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, where another 10 PGA Tour cards will be on the line for the best performers, not otherwise exempt, in the season-long race.

How is Ryder Cup qualification likely to be impacted by the new schedule?

The big news to note is the return of the Team Cup (formerly known as the Hero Cup) in January, which will see Francesco Molinari captain Continental Europe against a Great Britain & Ireland team, led by Justin Rose.

Much to our disappointment, the three-day contest is the only matchplay event on the DP World Tour calendar, though it should give plenty of would-be rookies a chance to audition for a place in Luke Donald’s team.

As for the qualification process, there are 35 DP World Tour tournaments – including two Rolex Series events – between now and the cut-off point after the British Masters concludes on August 24.

How big of a loss is the European Open to the DP World Tour?

Pretty significant. Porsche had been the title sponsor of the European Open for nine years, but withdrew its backing last year after the Tour imposed restrictions on LIV players, including Porsche ambassadors Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer, which meant they were unable to compete in Germany.

Removing the Andalucía Masters from the schedule is perhaps less of a surprise, given Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia are poster boys for LIV, though it does speak to some of the struggles all the tours are having in tying down major sponsors.

Finding new venues appears to be less of a problem, with Argentario Golf Club in Tuscany taking over hosting rights of the Italian Open, and Furesø Golf Klub, near Copenhagen, doing likewise for the Danish Golf Championship.

Why has the Scandanavian Mixed been dropped?

This is perhaps the biggest surprise of the lot, especially as Guy Kinnings spoke exclusively to us last month about his love of mixed golf and team golf. He did say that he wanted to bring back Golf Sixes and a matchplay event ”if the right commercial partner can be found”, which leads us to think that they couldn’t find one for the Scandanavian Mixed. It does mean that besides the Ryder Cup and Team Cup, every event on the 2025 schedule will follow a strokeplay format which is a little disappointing.

Are players at risk of burnout?

This was an argument made by Eddie Pepperell last month, in which he claimed “people are playing more golf than they would otherwise want to.” However, the 2025 calendar actually features four fewer tournaments than this year’s schedule and two of them – the Ryder Cup and Team Cup – are only applicable to a handful of players.

The wider issue relates to the decision to top-load the last three months of the season with the biggest events and purses back-to-back, in the vain hope that a few PGA Tour members may decide to come and play them. We can understand why Kinnings is refusing to budge, but he risks alienating a lot of members who won’t be happy about competing for smaller prize funds during the first half of the year.

How do the prize funds compare to the PGA Tour?

Would it surprise you to learn that the gap is significant? As part of the strategic alliance, the DP World Tour are being given a helping hand by their American cousins to help prop up their total prize fund to record highs every year.

However, the $153 million that is on offer outside the major championships for the 2025 season is almost $300 million less than the riches offered up by the PGA Tour this year (not including bonuses).

As yet, Jay Monahan hasn’t confirmed all the purses for their events in 2025, but you can guarantee it will be a lot more. The eight signature events pay out $20 million each, which is half of what the top 50 on the Race to Dubai will be competing for in the DP World Tour’s season finale.

FULL 2025 DP WORLD TOUR SCHEDULE

OPENING SWING
November 21-24: BMW Australian PGA Championship | Royal Queensland, Brisbane
November 28 – December 1: ISPS Handa Australian Open | Kingston Heath GC & Victoria GC, Melbourne
December 5-8: Nedbank Golf Challenge | Gary Player CC, Sun City, South Africa
December 12-15: Alfred Dunhill Championship | Leopard Creek CC, Malelane, South Africa
December 19-22: AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open | Mont Choisy Le Golf, Grand Baie

INTERNATIONAL SWING
January 10-12: Team Cup | Abu Dhabi Golf Resort, UAE
January 16-19: HERO DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC* | Emirates GC, UAE
January 23-26: Ras Al Khaimah Championship | Al Hamra GC, UAE
January 30-February 2: Bahrain Championship | Royal GC, Kingdom of Bahrain
February 6-9: Middle East Event
February 20-23: Magical Kenya Open | Muthaiga GC, Nairobi,
February 27 – March 2: South African Open Championship | Durban CC, Durban
March 6-9: Joburg Open | Houghton GC Johannesburg, South Africa

ASIAN SWING
March 20-23: Porsche Singapore | Classic Laguna National
March 27-30: Hero Indian Open | TBA, India
April 10-13: THE MASTERS | Augusta National GC, Augusta, GA, USA
April 17-20: Volvo China Open | TBA, China
April 24-27: Asian Event | TBA

EUROPEAN SWING
May 8-11 Turkish Open | Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort, Antalya
May 15-18: US PGA CHAMPIONSHIP | Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, NC
May 22-25: Soudal Open | Rinkven International GC, Antwerp, Belgium
May 29 – June 1: Austrian Alpine Open presented by SalzburgerLand | Gut Altentann GC, Salzburg,
June 5-8: KLM Open | The International, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
June 12-15: US OPEN | Oakmont CC, Oakmont, PA
June 26-29: Italian Open | Argentario GC, Porto Ecole, Tuscany, Italy
July 3-6: BMW International Open | Golfclub München Eichenried, Munich, Germany

THE CLOSING SWING
July 10-13: GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN* | The Renaissance Club, North Berwick
July 10-13: ISCO Championship | Hurstbourne CC, Louisville, KY, USA
July 17-20: THE OPEN | Royal Portrush GC, Portrush, Country Antrim, Northern Ireland
July 17-20: Barracuda Championship | Tahoe Mt. Club, Truckee, CA, USA
August 7-10: D+D REAL Czech Masters | TBA
August 14-17: Danish Golf Championship | Furesø Golf Klub, Copenhagen

BACK 9 SWING
August 21-24: Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo | The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield, England
August 28-31: Omega European Masters | Crans-sur-Sierre GC, Crans Montana, Switzerland
September 4-7: Amgen Irish Open | The K Club, Staffan, Kildare
September 11-14: BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP* | Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, England
September 18-21: FedEx Open de France | Golf de Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, Paris
September 26-28: THE 2025 RYDER CUP | Bethpage Black GC, Farmingdale, NY, USA
October 2-5: Alfred Dunhill Links Championship | Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns, Scotland
October 9-12: acciona Open de España presented by Madrid | Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Madrid,
October 16-19: Back 9 Event
October 23-26: Genesis Championship | TBA, South Korea

THE DP WORLD TOUR PLAY-OFFS
November 6-9: ABU DHABI CHAMPIONSHIP* | Yas Links, UAE
November 13-16: DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP*, DUBAI | Jumeirah Golf Estates, Earth Course, UAE

*Denotes Rolex Series event

About the author

Michael Catling – Features Editor

Michael Catling is an award-winning journalist who specializes in golf’s Majors and Tours, including DP World, PGA, LPGA, and LIV.

Michael joined Today’s Golfer in 2016 and has traveled the world to attend the game’s biggest events and secure exclusive interviews with the game’s biggest names, including Jack Nicklaus, Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Martin Slumbers and Justin Thomas.

Get in touch with Michael via email and follow him on X.