Dubai: Jumeirah Golf Estates, the venue for The European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, has been named on Monday as the ninth European Tour destination, marking an expansion into the Middle East for the growing network of venues under the European Tour Properties banner.
The announcement, which comes less than a month before the climax to the fifth Race to Dubai played over the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 14-17, also coincides with the launch of the second state-of-the-art European Tour Performance Institute (ETPI) located at the spectacular venue.
Meanwhile, the Middle East’s first ETPI academy, boasting world-class training facilities for elite professional and amateur golfers alike, serves to enhance the status of Jumeirah Golf Estates as one of the region’s most exciting new allround golf complexes. The latest ETPI follows in the footsteps of the inaugural facility at Terre Blanche, where the Albatros Golf Performance Centre was officially launched as the first ETPI in March, 2012.
Since its launch in 2009, European Tour Properties has grown to encompass 13 member venues — nine Destinations and four Tour Courses spanning 11 different countries — the majority of which have staged top class tournament golf at European Tour, Senior Tour, Challenge Tour or European Tour Qualifying School level, either currently or in the recent past.
George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, welcomed the first all-purpose European Tour facility in the region. “Today’s historic announcement of the first Tour Destination and ETPI in the Middle East further endorses the status of Jumeirah Golf Estates as our season-ending tournament venue and as an internationally acclaimed destination, which has been widely praised by the players and public alike,” O’Grady said.
