Rule changes From January 1, 2019 onwards, tournaments followed the new
rules released by the
USGA and
The R&A which were designed to simplify the rule book and speed up the pace of play. The most noticeable changes included golfers being able to putt on the green with the flag remaining in, and drops being made from knee rather than shoulder height.
Scheduling changes As announced in
2017, the
PGA Championship was moved from August to May, starting in
2019. The
PGA of America cited the addition of golf to the Summer Olympics, as well as cooler weather enabling a wider array of options for host courses, as reasoning for the change. It was also believed that the PGA Tour wished to re-align its season so that its FedEx Cup Playoffs would not have to compete with the start of the
NFL season in early September, since both United States broadcast partners (
CBS and
NBC) are NFL broadcast partners. Consequently, the European Tour moved their flagship event; the
BMW PGA Championship, from the congested May date to late September, four weeks after the end of the
2018–19 PGA Tour season. It was hoped the date would attract more top names.
Changes to the Race to Dubai The number of Race to Dubai points available in the Final Series (last three events of the season) was increased, and the field size reduced. The aim was to make more players still have a chance of winning the Race to Dubai entering the Final Series. In addition, although the prize money was not increased, the bonus pool of would now be split among the top five players rather than the top ten. The money saved from restricting field sizes was used solely to increase the first prizes, which means that the tournaments would not have the standard prize fund distribution, and the
DP World Tour Championship, Dubai would have the largest tournament first prize in golf of .
Tournament changes • New tournament:
Saudi International. • Returning tournament:
Alfred Dunhill Championship (not held during the
2018 season due to course renovations) • Tournaments on the European Tour schedule for the first time:
ISPS Handa Vic Open,
Kenya Open. • Changes to the
Rolex Series: the
Abu Dhabi Golf Championship replaced the
Open de France. • No longer part of the schedule:
Joburg Open,
Tshwane Open,
Sicilian Open,
Fiji International,
Shot Clock Masters. ==Schedule==