European Tour announces largest first prize in golf
DUBAI: The European Tour has continued its bid to entice golf’s biggest names to compete in its events by announcing the biggest first prize in the sport for the season- ending World Tour Championship.
The winne r o f the 2 019 tournament in Dubai will now receive US$ 3 million, after Danny Willett pocketed US$ 1.33 million for his victory last November.
The event is the last of the Tour’s ‘ Rolex Series’, with the fields for the final three tournaments of the season all reduced to allow for increases in the winners’ prize money.
World number one Justin Rose, who won the Turkish Open last year, opted out of playing the World Tour Championship as he was no longer in the running for the season-long Race to Dubai title, which was won by British Open champion Francesco Molinari.
The European Tour wi l l be hoping that the new prize structure, with the Turkish Open winner now to earn US$ 2 million (up from US$ 1.16 million) and the Nedbank Golf Challenge champion to take home US$ 2.5 million (up from US$1.25 million), will prevent players like Rose and Rory McIlroy from skipping its biggest events.
McIlroy said before last year’s World Tour Championship that he was considering not playing enough European Tour competitions in 2019 to keep his tour card.
“With the revised prize money breakdown and the extra Race to Dubai points in place for 2019, this provides a tremendous incentive for our players,” said European Tour chief execut ive Keith Pelley.
Despite the US$ 3 million prize for the Dubai tournament, it is still dwarfed by the US$10 million Rose claimed for winning last year’s season- long FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour. — AFP