Changes to 2009 European Tour Schedule

The Race to Dubai, which begins with this week’s HSBC Champions in Shanghai, has brought about several changes in the structure of The 2009 European Tour International Schedule, not least in the length of exemptions categories for many of this season’s tournaments and beyond.The modifications have been undertaken after discussions within the Tournament Committee who felt the need to address the growing size of several winners’ categories allied to the impact this had on opportunities throughout other exemption categories. The first change comes in Category 1: Winners of the four Major Championships and The Race to Dubai, which has been reduced from ten years to seven years. The change in Category 2 comes in the tournaments which now fall into that grouping; ie the BMW PGA Championship is joined by The Dubai World Championship, both of which carry five year exemptions for the respective winners. Category 2b continues to have a three year exemption but, in addition to the winners of the individual World Golf Championship events, the grouping now also features The European Open – reduced from its previous exemption of five years – as well as the Open de France ALSTOM and The Barclays Scottish Open, which are both increased from their previous exemption of two years. The final change comes in Category 3 which will carry a two year exemption for the winner of events featuring a prize fund of €1.5 million and above; while Category 3b – events with prize funds below €1.5 million – will see their winner’s exemption drop from two years to one. This latter category will also include the winner of any dual ranking events by virtue of their prize funds. For purposes of this definition for the 2009 season, the exchange rates at the start of this week – Monday November 3, 2008 – will be used for prize fund calculations in other currencies. The Committee also felt that Ryder Cup players deserved an improved status within the exemption categories and it was therefore agreed that they will now sit above the top 115 from the previous year’s Order of Merit. The changes will only affect those players winning any of the above tournaments mentioned from the 2009 season onwards – the length of any exemptions already earned will remain unchanged.