Moments ago the European Tour and PGA Tour announced upgrades to their Strategic Alliance and in my opinion it's good news for the European Tour, although some of my colleagues in the UK feel that it isn't nearly enough.
The Scottish Open gets a new sponsor, the Korean luxury car giant Genesis replaces Aberdeen Investments, and both the Barracuda and Barbasol Championships will be co-sanctioned with points counting towards the Race to Dubai and the Fed Ex Cup, in addition prize money for the Irish Open will be doubled.
Location - Hero Open 2021
Here is my edited version of the historic announcement.
The PGA TOUR and European Tour today unveiled new details around their Strategic Alliance, with the PGA TOUR also releasing its 2021-22 PGA TOUR Season schedule.
The landmark agreement, announced in November 2020, further enhances and connects the ecosystem of men’s professional golf through a number of areas, including global scheduling, prize funds and playing opportunities for the respective memberships.
In terms of scheduling, the most significant piece of collaboration is the fact that three tournaments will be co-sanctioned in 2022 and therefore count on both the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup and the European Tour’s Race to Dubai next season: the Barbasol Championship; the Barracuda Championship; and the Genesis Scottish Open.
The latter event also has a new title sponsor in Genesis, the luxury automotive brand from South Korea, who will now title sponsor two tournaments on the PGA TOUR, with the Genesis Scottish Open joining The Genesis Invitational, which Genesis has titled since 2017; The Genesis Invitational will once again be played at The Riviera Country Club next year (February 14-20).
The Genesis Scottish Open (July 4-10), which is part of the European Tour’s Rolex Series, retains its place in golf’s global calendar the week ahead of The Open Championship (July 11-17), a date confirmed through to 2025. The player field will be a split between members of both Tours.
The tournament will also benefit from the continued commitment of the Scottish Government, managed by Visit Scotland – the agreement also running through 2025.
Genesis will take over the title sponsorship of the event from abrdn, who are exploring ways for the decade-long partnership with the European Tour to continue moving forward. The venue for the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open will be confirmed at a later date.
In addition to the Genesis Scottish Open being co-sanctioned, there will also be access for 50 European Tour members to each of two PGA TOUR events in 2022 for the first time – the Barbasol Championship, which will be played concurrently with the Genesis Scottish Open, and the Barracuda Championship, which will be played alongside the following week’s 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews. Both events will be added to the Race to Dubai for European Tour members.
It was also confirmed today that as part of the Strategic Alliance and collaboration between the two Tours, the Irish Open will see a significant increase in prize money for its annual European Tour event – to $6 million, starting in 2022 – nearly double the amount on offer at Mount Juliet last month.
When we announced the Strategic Alliance at the end of last year, we said it was a landmark moment for global golf’s ecosystem that would benefit all members of both Tours,” said Pelley. “Today’s announcement underlines that promise, with further enhancements to the Genesis Scottish Open, a strengthening of the Irish Open for our members, and direct access for European Tour members to two PGA TOUR events.
“With today’s news, I am pleased to say that the PGA TOUR and the European Tour are both stronger than at any time in our history, as we are positioned to grow – together – over the next 10 years faster than we have at any point in our existence,” said Monahan.
Bryan Angus
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