The first ever golf esports series – the European eTour – will launch next year with tournaments held onsite at six European Tour events before culminating in a grand final during the 2020 DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Commencing in Abu Dhabi
Starting at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA next month, the inaugural season-long eTour will feature six esports contests held at European Tour tournaments around the world.
Players will go head-to-head in the leading online and mobile golf game, World Golf Tour (WGT) by Topgolf, which is currently played by more than 20 million people worldwide.
The new tour, which has been put together by DreamHack, in partnership with the European Tour and Topgolf Entertainment Group, will see the world’s best golf esports players attempt to qualify for the live onsite events via an online tournament.
Knockout
Eight players will then compete onsite at European Tour events in an exciting nine-hole knockout match play format, initially in two round robin groups, before straight knockout semi-finals and final.
The five tournament winners, along with three wildcards qualifiers, will then contest the season-finale at the European Tour’s own season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, which takes place at Jumeirah Golf Estates from Nov. 19-22, 2020.
Photorealistic gaming experience
A long-time leader in online golf competitions, WGT by Topgolf offers the most photorealistic golf gaming experience giving players the opportunity to virtually play some of the most famous golf championship courses.
Topgolf is currently developing additional European Tour virtual venues to add to its portfolio of WGT golf courses while DreamHack will bring its extensive esports events and streaming production capabilities to create a premium experience.
Bespoke content
Fans will enjoy live coverage, as well as bespoke ancillary content of all six European eTour events across a multitude of platforms including broadcast, digital and social media.
The European Tour held its first esports event earlier this year with WGT and DreamHack.
The inaugural European eTour Championship took place at the Made in Denmark and the success of that tournament led to the development of this a series of one-day events across 2020.
The esports industry is one of the fastest growing media sectors with an audience of more than 380 million enthusiasts worldwide, and forecasted to surpass 1.6 billion by 2022. A large majority of esports fans are in the 18-34 age demographic.
