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| from europrotour.com |
The PGA EuroPro Tour is an exciting developmental professional golf tour located in the UK. The 2016 season will be their 7th year running. This is a special pro golf tour because they televise the usual three day 54-hole tournaments. I just learned about the EuroPro Tour about a month ago when I came across a tournament on YouTube, and now I want to share this great tour with you.
This is basically a third-tier developmental professional golf tour. The next level these golfers are trying to make is the Challenge Tour in Europe (like our Web.com), and then the European Tour. In America this tour would be the equivalent of the Swing Thought Tour or the Oncore Gateway Tour.
The first thing that comes across when watching their televised last day 18-hole coverage, is how quality this tour is overall. The commentary, the breaks, the camera work, interviews – the EuroPro Tour is actually presented much better than the Challenge Tour or even the Web.com Tour. The overall presentation of the events is Par with the PGA Tour's coverage.
The purse money is the biggest difference on a third tier pro golf tour like the EuroPro Tour. In 2015 the total purse for each 54-hole tournament was about $65k pounds, which worked out to:
1st: $10,000
2nd: $6,000
3rd: $4,000
4th: $2,500
5th: $1700
That is basically the payout to the top 5 finishers, paying to about 20th place and ties. There are 16 events including a season tour championship where the prize money is doubled. Also, the biggest prize is the top five money winners (order of merit) earn their Challenge Tour cards and move up to bigger prize money (more like $200k purses).
There is a cut at each tournament after 36-holes, where a field of over a hundred are cut in half. The competition is thick, and the skill at the top is as good as anywhere. The courses they play are simply awesome, but also usually very difficult courses around the UK mostly.
There are only a handful of players who end up making over $18,000 gross every year in winnings, so this isn't a tour where many people are making a living. Yet, there are many journeymen playing on this tour, who likely make a good part-time income from their golf game.
To join the EuroPro Tour, a golfer has to start by paying about $300 to enter their Q-School. This is a couple staged tournaments, where around a hundred golfers (my estimation) make it through. I say this as a guess, seeing there are around 120 people playing each event before the cut. When they make it through Q-School, players are eligible to play in all the tournaments by paying a $200 entry fee. They have to be in the top 60 in the order of merit to make it to the tour championship.
The last day of every tournament in 2015 can be seen on their YouTube channel. The videos are about an hour and a half, showing an edited version of the play from the first hole to the last. The commentators, lady who introduces, and the whole camera crew do an excellent job of showing some excellent golf from young pro golfers. Nowhere else have I seen such quality viewing of tournament golf apart from the PGA and European Tours.
For those who love golf, who play on mini-tours, who want to play on mini-tours, or who just like to see the underdog win – the EuroPro Tour is a great place to watch competitive golf. Personally, I find this coverage entertaining and practically useful as I want to play on mini-tours too. It gives me a great opportunity to see what I would face and how these young professional golfers deal with tournament golf.
Check out the EuroPro Tour, and if you're in the UK you might want to try out for Q-School or go watch an event. Just thought I would share this great treasure I've found online, hope it helps you visualize your dreams and simply have some great golf to watch.
Website: HotelPlanner.com EuroPro Tour
YouTube Channel: PGAEuroProTour
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