The Soudal Open was not always called that. Belgium’s national Open dates to 1910, making it one of the oldest in European golf. Its first winner, Arnaud Massy, was the only Frenchman ever to win a major championship. The tournament ran for nearly a century before going dark after 2000, returning in 2018 only because Thomas Pieters built a production company to revive it. And its name? Well, Soudal, a Belgian adhesives manufacturer in Turnhout, stepped in as a title sponsor in 2022 and gave the event its current name. It remains the only DP World Tour event held in Belgium to date.
The 2026 Soudal Open is being held from May 21-24, 2026, at the Rinkven International Golf Club, Antwerp, Belgium. The Championship offers a prize purse of $2.75 million. Following the DP World Tour’s standard payout structure, the winner takes home 17% of the total purse, which comes to $467,500.
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The prize purse has jumped over the years. It was $2 million in 2022, jumped to $2.5 million in 2024, and then climbed again to $2.75 million in 2025—a 37.5% jump. Among DP World Tour events that burst at a mid-to-upper tier of the regular schedule, competitive but well below the Tour’s premium Rolex Series, which typically carries purses of $7 million or more.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the prize money:
Beyond the prize purse, the winner gets approximately 21.3 Official World Golf Ranking points, with the points available based on the field strength. The winner also gets a two-plus season exemption on the European Tour, as well as berths into other key events.
This championship offers 3,500 Race to Dubai points, and the winner gets 585 DP World Tour points, along with the player holding the most season-long Race to Dubai points in the end.
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Interesting facts about the venue and the championship
The Rinkven International Golf Club wasn’t always a venue for professional golf. A group of friends from the Jewish community in Antwerp, Belgium, founded the club in 1981 with the notion that membership was open to all, regardless of nationality, religion, or background. The land’s original owner, Mr. Orban, donated it rent-free for the first ten years of the club’s existence.
The structure and design of the course also have a story of their own. Initially, Belgian architect Paul Rolin designed the course as three 9-hole loops, called the Red, White, and Yellow courses, later adding a fourth nine in 2006. The English firm Hawtree reworked both layouts and opened a new clubhouse in 2017.
The championship also holds a major record beyond the course structure. The tournament record for the Belgium Open stands at 18 under, jointly held by Lee Westwood (2000) and Nacho Elvira (2024). Major champions such as Nick Faldo, José María Olazábal, and Darren Clarke have won here across the Belgian Open’s long history.
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The 2026 edition marks the 20th event of the year on the European Tour schedule, making it one of the tour’s longest-running opens and the only one held in Belgium. This year is also significant for Nicolas Colsaerts, who retired after the 2025 season but returned through an invitation and will play here for the last time as a tribute to his home country.
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