feature-image

Imago

feature-image

Imago

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.

Watch What’s Trending Now!

View this post on Instagram

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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:

ADVERTISEMENT

PositionPrize Money
1$467,500
2$302,500
3$172,150
4$137,500
5$116,600
6$96,250
7$82,500
8$68,750
9$61,600
10$55,000
11$50,600
12$47,300
13$44,275
14$42,075
15$40,425
16$38,775
17$37,125
18$35,475
19$34,100
20$33,000
21$31,900
22$31,075
23$30,250
24$29,425
25$28,600
26$27,775
27$26,950
28$26,125
29$25,300
30$24,475
31$23,650
32$22,825
33$22,000
34$21,175
35$20,350
36$19,525
37$18,975
38$18,425
39$17,875
40$17,325
41$16,775
42$16,225
43$15,675
44$15,125
45$14,575
46$14,025
47$13,475
48$12,925
49$12,375
50$11,825
51$11,275
52$10,725
53$10,175
54$9,625
55$9,350
56$9,075
57$8,800
58$8,525
59$8,250
60$7,975
61$7,700
62$7,425
63$7,150
64$6,875
65$6,600

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Share this with a friend:

Link Copied!

ADVERTISEMENT

Written by

author-image

Roshni Dhawan

151 Articles

Roshni Dhawan is a writer and researcher covering golf at EssentiallySports. With a background in brand strategy and research, she brings a process-driven approach to her coverage, prioritizing accuracy, structure, and depth in every story. Her work is rooted in making the sport accessible to a wide audience, from long-time followers to those newly engaging with the game. Her coverage focuses on narrative-driven features, player journeys, and the evolving dynamics shaping the sport. By going beyond surface-level reporting, Roshni highlights the human stories that define golf, placing developments within a broader context that resonates with readers while maintaining clarity and relevance. Before transitioning into sports media, she built experience across research and content roles, developing a strong foundation in data analysis, academic writing, and structured storytelling. This background informs her ability to approach golf with both analytical discipline and creative perspective, ensuring her reporting remains both insightful and engaging.

Know more

Edited by

editor-image

Abhimanyu Gupta

ADVERTISEMENT