From the fastest round to new scoring records and the first professional disability golfer to play on the European Tour, here are the history making moments of the 2020 season.
NOVEMBER 2019
The 2020 season started with a historic change in tournament policy for the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, where players were allowed to wear shorts on tournament days for the first time due to the hot temperatures.
DECEMBER 2019
In just the second event of the season, Danish teenager Rasmus Højgaard made history in what was his fourth event on the European Tour, claiming his maiden title in a dramatic play-off at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open to become the first player born in the 21st century to win on Tour.
A week later, Nick Flanagan tied the course record of 63 during Saturday's round, and eventually finished in a tie for sixth - three shots adrift of winner Adam Scott
JANUARY 2020
Jayden Schaper made waves in the first event of 2020 when he became the first amateur to record a top ten on Tour in ten years - the highest place finish by an amateur in the South African Open since Ernie Els in 1990.
Lee Westwood then captured his 25th career win in 24 years on the European Tour, which puts him at eighth in the all-time list for number of wins on the European Tour. The victory, which saw him become just the third player in Tour history to win in four different decades, was his 44th worldwide
Sebastian Soderberg followed Westwood's history-making week in Abu Dhabi with a record of his own during the final round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, which he played in just 97 minutes.
FEBRUARY 2020
The Vic Open produced a moment to remember in February when Min Woo Lee earned his maiden European Tour victory - at the event of the same name won by his sister Minjee in 2014 and 2018.
Jon Rahm then set several records at the year's first WGC, the WGC Mexico Championship. During the third round, Rahm not only recorded his lowest ever round as a pro - a 10 under par 61 - but broke the course record and tied the lowest ever round recorded at a WGC.
JULY 2020
When the Tour resumed in July following a four month break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Robin Sciot-Siegrist was the first player to make his mark by tying the course record at GC Adamstal with a third round 61.
Jon Rahm achieved an impressive milestone just a few days later, becoming the just the second Spaniard in history to reach the top of the Official World Golf Rankings.
Another of the big headlines of July belonged to Miguel Ángel Jiménez, who earned his place in the history books by overtaking Sam Torrance's previous European Tour appearance record of 706 events.
AUGUST 2020
Continuing the trend of breaking long-standing records during the UK Swing was Andy Sullivan, whose victory at the English Championship also saw him set the record for the lowest ever aggregate score on the European Tour, of 257. The previous record of 258 had been first set by David Llewellyn at the 1988 AGF Biarritz Open, and matched only once - by Ian Woosnam during the 1990 Torras Monte Carlo Open.
Brendan Lawlor made history of his own in August too, by becoming the first professional disability golfer to compete on the European Tour. Back in the headlines with his second victory in just 15 starts at the ISPS HANDA UK Championship,
Rasmus Hojgaard became the second-youngest player - after Matteo Manassero - to win multiple titles on the European Tour.
SEPTEMBER 2020
Four-time Asian Tour winner and American Catlin is no stranger to the winner's circle, and the 29-year-old claimed his first European Tour title with a composed display in southern Spain, seeing off former World Number One Martin Kaymer in a thrilling final round battle that saw him become the only wire-to-wire winner in the tournament's history.
OCTOBER 2020
Laurie Canter recorded four top 10s on the European Tour in 2020, and came incredibly close to lifting his maiden title during the Italian Open, where he recorded the lowest 36 hole score in the tournaments history.
The newly rescheduled season saw two brand new events make their debut on the European Tour: The Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Open, and the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown. Those events saw Cyprus become the 50th different country visited by the European Tour.
NOVEMBER 2020
A number of records fell during an historic week at Augusta National, which hosted the Masters for the very first time. Dustin Johnson triumphed that week for his second Major Championship, and became the first player in history to reach 20 under par in the event - overtaking Jordan Spieth's previous record of reaching 19 under.
Elsewhere, Bernhard Langer became the oldest player to make the cut, Sungjae Im recorded the lowest ever score for a player making their debut, and Cameron Smith achieved something no one else had ever done - shooting all four rounds in the 60s.
And while Adrian Meronk was unable to convert a 54-hold lead into a record as the first player from Poland to win on the European Tour two weeks later, he did still make history as the first Polish player to lead (or co-lead) after any round on Tour.
DECEMBER 2020
Christiaan Bezuidenhout excelled in the South African Swing, taking home two titles at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and South African Open - becoming the first player since Justin Rose in 2017 to win back-to-back titles.
And in the final event of the season, it was Lee Westwood who book-ended his year with two new records. By claiming the season-long race for a third time, Westwood not only became the oldest winner of the Race to Dubai, but he also now holds the record of most years (20) between first and most recent Order of Merit wins.
Bryan Angus
(europeantour.com)
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