Race to Dubai unveiled
1:44pm Monday 6th October 2008
The 2009 European Tour and the inaugural Race to Dubai will feature a record 53 tournaments in 26 destinations.
Replacing the Order of Merit is the Race to Dubai, which begins with the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai on November 6 and ends with the 20million US dollar (£11.3million) Dubai World Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 19-22, 2009.
The top 60 in the Race to Dubai will qualify for the Dubai World Championship, which has a prize fund of 10million US dollars (£5.6million) and a first prize of 1.6million US dollars (£900,000).
A bonus pool of 10million US dollars will also be shared by the top 15 players in the Race to Dubai after the tournament, with the race winner taking away another 2million US dollars (£1.1million).
The record number of tournaments is due in part to a minimum of two events, the HSBC Champions and the UBS Hong Kong Open, each counting twice on the 2009 schedule - once in 2008 and again in 2009.
In addition there are five 'new' tournaments - the Czech Golf Open, English Open, Canal+ Open, Volvo World Match Play Championship and Dubai World Championship.
From 2010, the tour will revert to a calendar-year programme starting with the South African Open at Pearl Valley in January and concluding with the Dubai World Championship in November.
That will mean Leisurecorp, the Dubai World company specialising in developments and investments in sport and with whom the European Tour have a wide-ranging partnership, hosts the start and finish of the schedule. Leisurecorp have also bought Turnberry, which will stage the 138th Open Championship next year.
George O'Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, said: "We are excited about the start of the Race to Dubai and the superb quality of the field for the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, with five of the top seven currently active players in the world all entered.
"The Race to Dubai will bring a new dimension to the European Tour and the partnership with Leisurecorp is central to our plans for the future."
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