European eTour announces 2021 schedule

The 2021 European eTour schedule will feature five regular season events and a Global Finals as the popular golf esports series returns for a second year.

Launched by the European Tour in 2020, in partnership with esports specialists DreamHack Sports Games and Topgolf Entertainment Group, the inaugural season saw more than 800,000 entries as the world’s best players competed in the world’s most popular online and mobile golf game, World Golf Tour (WGT) by Topgolf.

The Portugal Masters is the first event of the 2021 season, starting today, with players competing in a five-week qualification process, which culminates in the top 128 players competing in a bracket style playoff tournament. From there, the top 8 players will qualify for the live event on April 29 with players going head-to-head in a knock-out format to determine the winner.

Three further events will coincide with European Tour tournaments from May to September before the final regular season event, the Nedbank Golf Challenge, starts in October. The season comes to a close with the second edition of the Global Finals in December.

American Payton Gordley, known by his in-game name golfx3, will be the player to beat in 2021 having won five regular season events last year and claiming the US$30,000 grand prize in January’s Global Final, as thousands tuned in to the livestream on the European Tour’s YouTube channel.

After taking a break from WGT to focus on his studies in 2019, he returned to the game after learning of the launch of the European eTour and went on to earn more than US$50,000 for his performances throughout the inaugural season.

Rufus Hack, Chief Operating Officer of the European Tour, said: “After the successes of the inaugural season, we are looking forward to writing the European eTour’s next chapter as we continue our partnerships with DreamHack Sports Games and Topgolf Entertainment Group. The feedback we have received from our fans, broadcast partners, sponsors and players has been extremely encouraging and we are looking forward to another season of exciting eTour action.”

“The eTour is the first of its kind in the golf esports segment and that is a leading position we want to maintain in 2021 and beyond” Roger Lodewick, DreamHack Sports Games CEO said. “Last season’s events were broadcast in over 70 countries with almost 500,000 players participating, playing over 30 million holes. This is an amazing start for a new esports property, and together with our great partners in the European Tour and Topgolf Entertainment Group, we can’t wait for the season to start.”

Ashley Groth, Director of Marketing at Topgolf Media commented, “We’re very excited to be bringing the European eTour and the opportunity to compete for US$100,000 to the WGT community for a second season. Together with our partners, the European Tour and DreamHack Sports Games, we look forward to continue building on the success of the partnership in 2021.”

2021 Schedule

Portugal Masters – February 24 – April 29

European Event – May – June

European Event – June – July

European Event – August – September

Nedbank Golf Challenge – October – November

Global Finals – December

(Text: European Tour Communications)