Diedorf/Germany – The coronavirus pandemic continues to affect the Pro Golf Tour in 2021, making for a comparatively late start to the season. The Red Sea Egyptian Classic at the Ain Sokhna Golf Club from 13-15 April will be the first competition for the winner’s trophy and the first Order of Merit points of the year; the Red Sea Ain Sokhna Classic will be held at the same venue from 18-20 April. Both tournaments are endowed with prize money of 30,000 euro each, and the members of the Pro Golf Tour can lay the foundation for a successful 2021 tournament season here.

A season that will continue in Austria at the end of April when the players tee off at the Haugschlag NÖ Open by perfect eagle in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria from 28 to 30 April. Resort owner Hans Geist and his team welcome the professionals again to the European opener of the Pro Golf Tour. It then continues from 7 to 9 May with the EXTEC Trophy in the Czech Republic, where 54 stroke play holes are scheduled at the popular Ypsilon Golf Resort Liberec. After a 14-day break, a double premiere is then on the agenda – and a return to Egypt: with the NewGiza Pyramids Challenge (27 to 29 May) and the Dreamland Pyramids Classic (1 to 3 June), two tournaments are on the Pro Golf Tour schedule for the first time just outside Cairo. Pro Golf Tour CEO Peter Zäh: “We are very happy to be able to play two more tournaments in Egypt and offer our members a very diverse season overall.” Both golf courses are considered to be excellent facilities that will challenge all the skills of the players.

Tight schedule of dates and tournaments

With the Leipzig Golf Open (21 to 23 June), the Gradi Polish Open by Emeralld (30 June-2 July), the Karolinka Golf Park Matchplay (5 to 8 July) in Poland, the Raiffeisen Pro Golf Tour St. Pölten in Austria (20 to 22 June), the Starnberg Open (16 to 18 August), the ALTEPRO Trophy in the Czech Republic (27 to 29 August) and finally the Coevorden Gelpenberg Open in the Netherlands (2 to 4 September), players can expect a very tight schedule of dates and tournaments during the summer months. Already firmly scheduled for the 2020 season, the premiere of the Coevorden Gelpenberg Open at Drentse Golfclub De Gelpenberg in Aalden, the Netherlands, had to be cancelled at short notice last year – it too fell victim to the coronavirus. Club President Marcel Kocks and his team are now looking forward to the professionals visiting the Championship course at the club that was founded in 1970 in late summer all the more.

10th anniversary

Four tournament premieres are on the programme in 2021 with the two new tournaments in Egypt, the match play format in Karolinka Park in Poland and the Coevorden Gelpenberg Open. In addition, the tour and the Castanea Golf Resort are celebrating a round anniversary: the Pro Golf Tour will be making a guest appearance in Adendorf for the 10th time this year, where the aim will be to determine the overall winner of the 2021 season and the five climbers to the European Challenge Tour from 4 to 6 October. And the resort has extended its contract with the Pro Golf Tour ahead of schedule and will host the Castanea Resort Championship until 2023 at least, with a record 50,000 euro prize money on offer again this year. By the way, the second highest prize of the year is at stake at the Leipzig Golf Open, which is also part of the tournament portfolio again after the compulsory coronavrius break last year and is endowed with 45,000 euro. An exciting and varied 2021 season is therefore guaranteed.

What's missing from the Pro Golf Tour calendar this year: Morocco. Due to the pandemic it is not currently possible to confirm a tournament in the long-time tour partner’s country, but adding one or two tournaments to the 2021 tournament schedule has not been ruled out.