New events added to European Tour schedule

The addition of two new tournaments and the return of others mean the 2007 European Tour season will be a record breaker.

There will be a minimum of 50 events played, after the MasterCard Masters in Australia and the Portugal Masters were introduced for the first time, while the Blue Chip New Zealand Open and the Mercedes Benz Championship are brought back.

Ireland will host three tournaments in 2007 with the Irish Open moving from Carton House to Adare Manor in May and the European Open taking place at it's long-term home the K Club in July.

The Seve Trophy also returns to Ireland with the Heritage Club in Co Laois the venue for Britain & Ireland's match against Continental Europe.

A reworking of the schedule means that the 2007 season starts next  month with the HSBC Champions Tournament in Shanghai and ends 12 months later with the Volvo Masters at Valderrama in Spain.

Keith Waters, director of international policy for the European Tour, said: "We share with all sports the incentive to break records and we are naturally both delighted and encouraged to announce, that for the first time in our
36-year history, there will be more than 50 tournaments on the schedule.

The Portugal Masters, featuring a first prize of €500,000, will be staged at Victoria Clube de Golfe in Vilamoura next October and is the first in a minimum three-year arrangement.

Significant date changes see the BMW International Open in Munich moved to June 21st-24th, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles switch to August 30th-September 2nd and the Quinn Direct British Masters at The Belfry put back to September 20th-23rd.

The HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, which boasts the largest first prize in golf at £1million, reverts to its former traditional dates of October 11th-14th.