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Cape Town – Four-time major champion Ernie Els will make his debut on the 2020 PGA Tour Champions.

The PGA Tour Champions is a membership organisation of professional golfers aged 50 and older, and includes 33 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The PGA Tour Champions announced on Wednesday that the 2020 schedule will feature 27 events in five countries with a total prize money of nearly $59 million.

Els, who is the captain of the International Presidents Cup team, celebrated his 50th birthday on October 17.

The ‘Big Easy’ will join fellow Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson, 17-time PGA Tour winner Jim Furyk and 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, who will all turn 50 in the next 12 months.

The 2020 season will begin with Els’ debut at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai the week of January 16-18 (Saturday finish), where American Tom Lehman will be the defending champion.

“I am looking forward to my first start on PGA Tour Champions in January at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii,” said Els in a press release.

“It will be great to reconnect with all of my friends I grew up competing with, and I know the camaraderie and competition will provide a lot of excitement for our fans.”

The schedule of five major championships starts in May with the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama, while the season’s other Majors will be at the Harbor Shores Golf Club in Michigan (Senior PGA Championship), Newport Country Club (US Senior Open), Firestone Country Club (Senior Players Championship) and Sunningdale Golf Club in England (Senior Open).

On Thursday, captain Els made his four International wildcard picks for December’s Presidents Cup, which will be held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.

Els will skipper the International team’s challenge against the US team led by captain Tiger Woods.