French Open is eighth event on Rolex Series

Chinese sponsorship

An eighth event has been added to the prestigious Rolex Series after the European Tour secured its first Chinese sponsor for an event outside its own country.

A five-year deal will see the French Open take the name of Chinese conglomerate HNA and become the first tournament in a run of three in the series leading up to the Open Championship.

Rory McIlroy’s hosting of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open complete the trio of events in late June early July before the year’s third major.

The BMW PGA Championship, Italian Open, Turkish Airlines Open, Nedbank Golf Challenge and DP World Tour Championship Dubai are the remaining events in the Rolex Series.

All tournaments offer minimum prize funds of £5.7 million with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai topping £6.5m.

Meanwhile American Justin Thomas claimed his third PGA Tour title with a three-shot victory at the SBS Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

Thomas, who held a two-shot lead going into the final round, saw the job through with a four-under-par 69 to claim a second win in his last three tournaments.

Runner-up was Hideki Matsuyama, who finished on 19 under, while Jordan Spieth carded eight birdies in a bogeyfree 65 to take a share of third with Pat Perez and Ryan Moore on 16 under.

World no 1 Jason Day finished with an eagle to close on 13 under.