European Tour unveils 2011 Race to Dubai schedule

November 29, 2010

The 2011 European Tour will feature three new events in a season that will contain a minimum of 50 tournaments and finish in December for the first time.

The Race to Dubai starts on 9 December, 2010 at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa and ends on 11 December at the Dubai World Championship.

New tournaments in Bahrain, Sicily and Malaysia punctuate the year.

The December finish in 2011 should allow following European Tour seasons to be completed in a calendar year.

European Tour chief Keith Waters said: ” The Race to Dubai will conclude in December for the first time in 2011, enabling us to introduce a schedule based on the calendar year, which has been our stated intention for some time now.

“We anticipate, therefore, that the 2012 season will commence in January that year and conclude in late November.”

The new events in 2011 are the Volvo Golf Champions at the Royal Golf Club in Bahrain from 27-30 January, the Sicilian Open from 17-20 March and the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia from 17-20 November.

Wentworth will host the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, for the 31st time and 28th in succession, from 26-29 May.

Three tournaments will have new venues with the Ballantine’s Championship taking place at the Blackstone Golf Club in Seoul, the Hassan II Golf Trophy at the Golf de Palais et Golf de L’Océan, in the Moroccan town of Agadir and the Omega Mission Hills World Cup being held at the Mission Hills Resort, Hainan Island.

Waters added: “We are extremely encouraged that The 2011 Race to Dubai comprises not only many of our established tournaments in addition to some new events and venues but also three significant month-long runs in designated locations.

“We start with four weeks in South Africa then four in the Gulf and later in the year there is a similar sequence with the Iberian Peninsula Swing.”