Due to start at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship next month, the inaugural season-long eTour will feature six esports contests held at European Tour tournaments around the world.

Players will go head-to-head in the leading online and mobile golf game, World Golf Tour (WGT) by Topgolf, currently played by more than 20 million people worldwide, it is claimed. 

The WGT by Topgolf offers a photo-realistic golf gaming experience, organisers claim, giving players the opportunity to virtually play some of the most famous golf championship courses.

Topgolf is currently developing additional European Tour virtual venues to add to its portfolio of WGT golf courses.

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 nine-hole knock-out match play format, initially in two round robin groups, before straight knock-out semi-finals and final.

The five tournament winners, along with three wildcards qualifiers, will then contest the season-finale at the European Tour’s own season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, due to place at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 19 to 22 next year.

DreamHack will provide esports events and streaming production capabilities.

Fans will enjoy extensive, live coverage, as well as bespoke ancillary content of all six European eTour events across a multitude of platforms including broadcast, digital and social media, it has been promised.

The European Tour held its first esports event earlier this year with WGT and DreamHack.

The inaugural European eTour Championship took place at the 2019 Made in Denmark, and the success of that tournament led to the development of this, a series of one-day events across the 2020 calendar.

"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," Rufus Hack, the European Tour’s chief content officer, said.

"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 the golf’s first esports Tour in 2020."

“The combination of a good game and a strong player in traditional sports is a winning recipe."

The esports industry is one of the fastest growing media sectors with an audience of more than 380 million enthusiasts worldwide, and is forecast to surpass 1.6 billion by 2022.

A large majority of esports fans are in the 18 to 34 age demographic.

"We see a great future for sports games in esports," said Peter Nørrelund, the chief executive of DreamHack Sports Games.