By Kent Gray
Abu Dhabi and Dubai are to host online tournaments on golf’s first ‘eSports Tour’ just launched by the European Tour.

The European eTour is will see gamers compete in virtual events on the sidelines of six European Tour tournaments. Played on the World Golf Tour (WGT) by Top Golf platform, the series will debut at January’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and culminate at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in November.

A partnership with DreamHack and Topgolf Entertainment Group, WGT has been trumpeted as golf’s “most photorealistic gaming experience” and is already played by 20 million players worldwide.

The world’s best golf esports players will attempt to qualify for the live onsite events via an online tournament. Eight players will then compete onsite at European Tour events in a 9-hole knockout matchplay 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-ending finale at the European Tour’s own season-ending Race to Dubai decider at  JGE from November 19-22, 2020.

The European Tour held its first esports event earlier this year at the 2019 Made in Denmark. The success of that tournament led to the development of this series of one-day events across the 2020 calendar, said Rufus Hack, the European Tour’s Chief Content Officer.

“The launch of the European eTour underlines the European Tour’s commitment to innovation and we believe this is an exciting opportunity for us to be leaders in a market that has huge growth potential,” said Hack.

“The esports industry allows the European Tour to engage with our existing audience in a different way and attract new fans outside of our traditional demographic through our broadcast and digital platforms. Our inaugural event in Denmark earlier this year gave a glimpse into the popularity of esports and we are looking forward to launching golf’s first esports Tour in 2020.”

The esports industry is one of the fastest-growing media sectors with an audience of more than 380 million enthusiasts worldwide which is forecasted to surpass 1.6 billion by 2022. A majority of esports fans are in the 18-34 age demographic.

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