Ireland is to have its first, scheduled Monday finish to a European Tour event next year. In a prime slot, the Smurfit European Open has been fixed for July 30th to August 2nd, finishing on the bank holiday Monday.
"We like to tie in with bank holidays wherever possible and in this case, we were responding to a request from the sponsors," said European Tour executive director, Ken Schofield, at the official announcement of the 1999 schedule, yesterday. He added with a smile: "I gather a Sunday finish would clash with a big race meeting in Galway."
As it happens, the Murphy's Irish Open has been fixed for July 1st to 4th which means that both events are within four weeks of each other. And they will be among the last eight qualifying tournaments for places in the European team to defend the Ryder Cup at The Country Club, Brookline, on September 24th to 26th.
Regarding an announcement for the 2005 staging in Ireland, Schofield insisted that the European Tour would not be pre-empting the 2003 announcement by the PGA of America. "That will not happen before their annual meeting at the end of November," he said. "After that, we would make a decision in three to four months, possibly by next Easter."
Tournament prize money for 1999 will surpass this year's total of £24,126,566 for 32 Volvo ranking events. This is due in no small way to the advent of three, so-called World Golf Championship events - the Andersen Consulting Matchplay, the NEC Invitational and the American Express Strokeplay - each with prize funds of $5 million.
Qualification for the first of these, at La Costa, California on February 25th to 28th, will be for the top-64 in the world rankings after the Desert Classic two weeks previously. Entry into the NEC strokeplay at Firestone on August 26th to 29th, will be limited to the 1999 US and European Ryder Cup teams, the Rest of the World President's Cup side and US President's Cup players not in the Ryder Cup team. The elite field for the American Express event - between 60 and 65 players - will be drawn from the world rankings and various money lists.
Another change will have prize money in next year's US Open and USPGA Championship counting towards the European Order of Merit for the first time. As an event with an invited field, it was considered inappropriate to include the US Masters in this arrangement, but all three US "majors" will count towards the Ryder Cup.
Meanwhile, August promises to be a decidedly busy month for Europe's leading players. After starting the month at The K Club, they head for Malmo and the Scandinavian Masters; then to Chicago (Medinah) for the USPGA Championship and back across the Atlantic to Munich for the BMW International, which is the last qualifying event for the Ryder Cup. Then they head back to America for the NEC Invitational.
Daunting? Not really, according to Schofield. "Our sport is becoming increasingly global, making intercontinental travel a fact of life," he said. "At the top end, the players travel in some comfort and at the end of the day, the rewards are considerable."
He added: "Our vision for the future is to have the maximum possible number of Volvo ranking tournaments each with a minimum fund of £1 million." Eight events will meet that target next year, including the Murphy's Irish Open and the Smurfit European Open.
