Dubai: The European Tour will welcome six new tournaments for the upcoming season, including the Hero Indian Open in the second half of February.
The six new tournaments will take the season’s total to 47 events - embracing seven new venues across eleven months of golfing action.
The 2015 European Tour’s international schedule was announced on Sunday. The global appeal of The European Tour has been highlighted in particular by the six new events - three of which are in the east, namely China, India and Thailand, while two are in Europe (Germany and Scotland) and one in Africa in Mauritius.
The Hero Indian Open, which was part of the Asian Tour, was not held for the first time in 2014. The inaugural event was held way back in 1964 and was won by Australia’s Peter Thomson, who was the inspiration behind the event. The golden jubilee competition was won by Mohammad Siddikur of Bangladesh.
Hero Honda took over sponsorship of the event in 2005, increasing its prize fund to $1.5 million in 2009. However, earlier this year former world number one Tiger Woods visited and played in India at the Delhi Golf Club for the first time at the personal invitation of Pawan Munjal, CEO, Hero Moto Corp.
The association has since gone to a different level with Hero becoming the title sponsor for the World Challenge 2014, the elite tournament to be hosted by Woods in Orlando, Florida, next month.
Two of the new tournaments – the Thailand Classic and the Hero Indian Open – will be played during successive weeks in February, while the season will open by the traditional Desert Swing of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The new Shenzhen International is the first of two tournaments back-to-back in China in mid-April, while the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in the first week of May holds the distinction of being the first tri-sanctioned tournament between The European Tour, the Asian Tour and the Sunshine Tour.
Completing the line-up of new events for 2015 are the two in Europe - the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay in Scotland at the end of July and the return of the European Open to the calendar in Germany at the end of September. This tournament will be seen as a preparation for the traditional four-tournament Final Series that will once again kick off with the BMW Masters in Shanghai.
Other significant dates moves include the Maybank Malaysian Open from April to the first week of February as the event celebrates its 10th anniversary with the same title sponsor, while the Omega European Masters will move from its traditional September slot to the last week of July, following the 144th Open Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews.
