Europe continues to grow

Tour Scene News round-upFar from constricting, the PGA European Tour, whose 2006 season's schedule (which has already started) was belatedly released yesterday, is expanding even more. Four new tournaments have been added to the tour itinerary, with only a short-lived close-season around Christmas and the New Year.Philip Reidreports

And, while the US Tour is attempting to reduce their number of tournaments, there's no such constraints from administrators on this side of the Atlantic who appear intent on continuing their policy of global expansion.

As anticipated, the Nissan Irish Open will again be the meat in the sandwich of two big tournaments in Britain, with the British Masters and the BMW PGA Championship being staged in the weeks either side.

The Irish Open returns to the Montgomerie Course at Carton House on May 18th-21st, while the Smurfit European Open keeps its traditional date a fortnight before the British Open.

The tournament at Straffan, which will be staged on the Smurfit Course, as the Palmer Course will be in a state of preparation for the Ryder Cup, will be held on July 6th-9th. No purses have been confirmed for the tournaments in Ireland.

The European Tour schedule was kick-started with last week's inaugural HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, won by David Howell, who has moved to world number 13 as a result of the victory.

Of the new tour stops, two more will be in China: the Volvo China Open and the Hong Kong Open. It then moves on to South Africa for the Dunhill Championship and the South African Airways Open.

A new team contest between Europe and Asia - the Royal Trophy in Bangkok, Thailand - starts the New Year from January 7-8, while, two weeks later, the European Tour visits its 36th destination in its 34-year history when the Abu Dhabi Golf Club plays host to the inaugural Abu Dhabi Golf Championship from January 19-22.

Completing the quartet of new tournaments is the BA-CA Open in Austria, formerly an event on the Challenge Tour, which takes place in June.

Two other tournaments which were previously dual-badge events have been upgraded. The Madeira Island Open (in March) and the Cadillac Russian Open (in August) have been elevated to fully fledged European Tour events.

So, at a time when the US Tour is cutting back, the European Tour is unashamedly continuing its expansionist policy, although a figure on the total amount of prize money on offer is, as yet, unavailable, but it will be in excess of €120 million.

Howell's win in China has lifted him to a career-high placing in the world rankings, and this week he teams up with Luke Donald - who, showing the foresight of a psychic, decided to select Howell over last year's partner, Paul Casey - to represent England in the defence of the World Cup, which takes place at the Victoria Course at Vilamoura in the Algarve, starting on Thursday.

Howell, who has already nearly secured his place on the Ryder Cup team, plans to take a seven-week break after the World Cup.

England are seeking to become just the third country to successfully defend the title.

For the ninth successive year, Padraig Harrington, who remains at 14th in the world rankings, and Paul McGinley, who has slipped back to 20th, will form the Irish team in the €3.4 million tournament that will feature just 24 teams (comprising two players each, playing foursomes and fourball over the four days).

However, many of the world's top players have either decided to start their winter hibernation early or, in the case of Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Colin Montgomerie, among others, have opted to play in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan this week.

As a result, world number six Sergio Garcia is the highest ranked player in the world competing in Portugal.

Incidentally, the Irish pairing of Harrington, who is on the end of a four-week stint that has seen him traverse the globe, playing in Spain, the United States, China and now Portugal in successive weeks, and McGinley, who is returning to competition for the first time since his success in the Volvo Masters, have been installed by Paddy Power as 9 to 2 joint second favourites with Spain. England are 7 to 2 favourites.

Woods, who was runner-up to Howell in Shanghai, is defending his title in Japan, where the lone Irishman in the field will be Peter Lawrie, who secured an invitation through Srixon, one of his sponsors.

Lawrie will remain on in Asia for the next two weeks, playing in the China Open and the Hong Kong Open.

While the final qualifying tour school at San Roque proved to be a disappointment for all of the Irish participants, the first phase of the European Seniors Tour qualifying will also be staged in Portugal this week, where there will be seven Irish players seeking to take the next step towards securing a card on next season's circuit.

Former Irish amateur international Adrian Morrow, Clive Davis, Chris Hurst, Dermot Morris, Brendan O'Malley, Billy Todd and Leonard Owens are all taking part.

EuropeanTour: 2006 Schedule

Nov 24th-27th 2005: Volvo China Open, Shenzhen.

Dec 1st-4th: UBS Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong GC.

Dec 8th-11th: Dunhill championship, Leopard Creek, SA.

Dec 15th-18th: South African Airways Open, Fancourt.

Jan 7th-8th: The Royal Trophy, Amata Spring, Bangkok.

Jan 19th-22nd: Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Abu Dhabi.

Jan 26th-29th: Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, Doha.

Feb 2nd-5th: Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates GC.

Feb 9th-12th: Johnnie Walker Classic, The Vines, Perth.

Feb 16th-19th: Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur.

Feb 22nd-26th: WGC - Accenture Matchplay, La Costa.

Mar 2nd-5th: TBC.

Mar 9th-12th: TBC.

Mar 16th-19th: TCL Classic, Yalong Bay GC, China.

Mar 23rd-26th: Madeira Island Open, Santo de Serra.

Mar 30th-Apr 2nd: Estoril Open de Portugal, Penina.

Apr 6th-9th: US Masters, Augusta National.

Apr 13th-16th: Volvo China Open, Honghua International.

Apr 20th-23rd: BMW Asian Open, Pudong GC, Shanghai.

Apr 27th-30th: Jazztel Open de Espana, San Roque.

May 4th-7th: Telecom Italia Open, Milan.

May 11th-14th: British Masters.

May 18th-21st: Nissan Irish Open, Carton House.

May 25th-28th: BMW Championship, Wentworth.

Jun 1st-4th: The Celtic Manor Wales Open, Newport.

Jun 8th-11th: BA-CA Golf Open, Fontana GC, Vienna.

Jun 15th-18th: US Open Championship, Winged Foot.

Jun 15th-18th: Aa St Omer Open, Lumbres, France.

Jun 22nd-25th: Johnnie Walker Championship, Gleneagles.

Jun 29th-Jul 2nd: Open de France, Le Golf National, Paris.

Jul 6th-9th: Smurfit European Open, The K Club.

Jul 13th-16th: The Barclays Scottish Open, Loch Lomond.

Jul 20th-23rd: 135th Open Championship, Hoylake.

Jul 27th-30th: Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe, Hamburg.

Aug 3rd-6th: Scandinavian Masters, Barseback.

Aug 10th-13th: The KLM Open, Zandvoort.

Aug 17th-20th: US PGA Championship, Medinah CC.

Aug 17th-20th: The Cadillac Russian Open, Moscow.

Aug 24th-27th: WGC - Bridgestone Invitational, Akron.

Aug 31st-Sep 3rd: BMW International Open, Munich.

Sep 7th-10th: Omega European Masters, Crans-sur-Sierre.

Sep 14th-17th: HSBC World Match Play, Wentworth.

Sep 22nd-24th: The 36th Ryder Cup, The K Club.

Sep 28th-Oct 1st: WGC-American Express, Hertfordshire.

Oct 5th-8th: Dunhill links championship, St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

Oct 12th-15th: TBC

Oct 19th-22nd: Mallorca Classic, Pula GC.

Oct 26th-29th: Volvo Masters, Valderrama.

Dec 7th-10th: WGC - World Cup.