The 2002 European Tour International Schedule will comprise a minimum of 44 Volvo Order of Merit tournaments with no fewer than 22 countries hosting European Tour competition and three new events coming on stream.
One of those new tournaments, the BMW Asian Open at The Westin Resort, Ta Shee, Taiwan, launches the 2002 Volvo Order of Merit from November 22-25 this year, with the race to become Europe’s Number One culminating in the 15th edition of the Volvo Masters Andalucia from November 7-10, 2002.
Other new tournaments are the Omega Hong Kong Open at Hong Kong GC from November 29-December 2, 2001, jointly sanctioned with the Davidoff Tour, and The ANZ Championship at The Lakes GC, Sydney, from February 7-10, 2002, a joint-sanctioned event with the Australasian Tour offering a prize fund of Aus$1,750,000.
The fifth edition of the Qatar Masters, at the superb Doha Golf Club, once again follows the Dubai Desert Classic in the Middle East segment of the Schedule and prize money has been doubled in 2002 to US$1,500,000.
Next season’s Linde German Masters has a new date, from September 12-15, at Gut Lärchenhof, Cologne, and that tournament heralds the start of a wonderful three weeks of golf on The European Tour International Schedule. Following the Linde German Masters will be the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship at Mount Juliet in Ireland and then the 34th Ryder Cup Matches at The De Vere Belfry.
There will be new venues for three of the World Golf Championships events. While the Accenture Match Play Championship returns to La Costa Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, California after one year’s absence, the NEC Invitational will be played at Sahalee CC in Seattle, the American Express Championship at Mount Juliet and the EMC2 World Cup visiting a new country in Mexico with the Vista Vallarata Club in Puerto Vallarata hosting this Approved Special Event.
The Open de Canaries makes a welcome return on The European Tour International Schedule after a seven year gap. Spain’s José Maria Olazábal won two of the six editions of the tournament, which was played between 1989 and 1995 with Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden emerging victorious in the last playing of the event.
The 2002 Open de Canaries will be worth 1,000,000 euro and will be played from March 28-31 at El Cortijo Club de Campo, Grand Canarias. This will be the final counting event towards automatic qualification for the second Seve Trophy, to be played at Druids Glen in Ireland from April 19-21.
There are return visits to two popular venues in 2002. The South African Open, which launches the start of the year 2002 from January 10-13, will be played at The Country Club, Durban, where Ernie Els captured one of the oldest titles in golf in 1998. Meanwhile The TNT Open moves from Noordwijkse on the coast to the inland venue of Hilversumsche, where Lee Westwood claimed one of his three European Tour titles in 1999.
For further information please contact:
Scott Crockett
European Tour Press Officer
European Tour
Wentworth Drive
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 840 400
Fax: +44 (0) 1344 840 444
Email: scrockett@europeantour.com