Last week, it was exciting to be able to announce our official 28-tournament schedule for the 2026 HotelPlanner Tour season, after months of hard work, planning and preparation.
It’s going to be another busy year as we visit 19 countries across three continents, and we are delighted that we can offer a prize fund of €9 million for the second successive year – something that wouldn’t be possible without the support of HotelPlanner who came on board as our Title Partner back in January.
In 2026 we will be heading back to several familiar countries and venues, while breaking new ground, with Estonia set to become the 52nd country to host a HotelPlanner Tour event since the Tour’s inception in 1989.
For a sixth year in a row, we will begin our season in South Africa. We first visited in 2020 and have built a strong partnership with the Sunshine Tour, who we co-sanction our events with.
Another partnership we’ll continue to build on in 2026 is with the Emirates Golf Federation, as we will return to the United Arab Emirates in April. The EGF’s long-term partnership with the DP World Tour has made that possible, and we’re looking forward to back-to-back events in the country for the fourth year in a row.
Development in the region
We want to play our part in developing golf in this region, and the Abu Dhabi Challenge, taking place at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club, and the RAKBANK UAE Challenge at Al Zorah Golf & Yacht Club, will help to do just that.
Beyond their importance on the international calendar, both tournaments play a significant role in supporting the growth of the game locally by providing a high-level platform for emerging talent. This was evident earlier this year at the UAE Challenge, where Akram Skaik became the first UAE-born golfer to make the cut in a 72-hole professional event – a landmark achievement that highlighted the progress being made and offered an encouraging sign of further success to come for players from the region. In total, 30 spots in each event in 2026 will be allocated to the EGF to help create playing opportunities and provide a pathway for the best Emirati golfers.
We arrive in Europe for the first time in May, with a run of 19 tournaments in 20 weeks, spanning 16 countries, before heading to China for back-to-back events and finally the season-ending Rolex Grand Final supported by The R&A in Spain. At the season’s conclusion, 15 players will earn one of the life-changing DP World Tour cards on offer.
Each year, the HotelPlanner Tour schedule is prepared with the aim of giving those who receive one of the coveted DP World Tour cards, the best chance of success. We want them to be as ready as they can be to not only play, but to compete and win on Golf’s Global Tour. It’s a proud thing for me to say that we’ve seen that in abundance in recent years, and never more so than in the last 12 months.
Pathway success
Producing future champions
Since our Tour’s first official season in 1989, our mission has been to produce future champions on the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR, Major Champions and Ryder Cup players, and in recent years we have consistently delivered on that.
At the time of writing, 234 former HotelPlanner Tour players have won on the DP World Tour, amassing 624 wins between them.
Our most recent cohort of graduates accounted for four of those victories in 2025, with Kristoffer Reitan, Nicolai von Dellingshausen, John Parry and Martin Couvra all winning on the 2025 Race to Dubai. There was added reason to celebrate with Kristoffer, John and 2024 Road to Mallorca Number One, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, earning dual membership with the PGA TOUR following their exceptional performances.
Also on the DP World Tour, Marco Penge, who won our Rankings in 2023, was arguably one of the stories of the year. He won three times, ended the year second on the Race to Dubai and also earned one of the ten PGA TOUR cards.
Tommy Fleetwood, who won our Rankings back in 2011, continued to climb the Official World Golf Rankings by becoming a winner on the PGA TOUR for the very first time. He has always been a strong advocate of how his experiences on the HotelPlanner Tour prepared him for the next step in his career, so it was great to see him win the TOUR Championship.
Tommy was also heavily involved in Team Europe’s victory in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. It says a lot about our Tour that six of the 12 players in Luke Donald’s European team were HotelPlanner Tour alumni, with Rasmus Højgaard becoming the 35th player from the Tour to play in a Ryder Cup.
A groundbreaking year
With the success of our graduates on the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, and their contributions at the Ryder Cup, on the course it has been another outstanding year.
We also celebrated the first 20 graduates of the HotelPlanner Tour era, with a mix of DP World Tour winners making their way back to Golf’s Global Tour, and the next generation of up-and-coming stars beginning to forge their own path. I have no doubt that several of the players that gained promotion this year will win on the DP World Tour in the not-too-distant future.
Off the course, the first year of HotelPlanner’s Title Partnership has also been incredibly positive. Their investment has not only improved prize funds – which reached record heights this year – but it is making the week-to-week tournament experience better for our members.
I’m proud of the work we are continuing to do, and also of the schedule we have for 2026, which I truly believe will best-prepare the next generation of stars for success.
Jamie Hodges
HotelPlanner Tour Director
