GOLF NEWS:THE HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai is to become a World Golf Championships event in November – and Tiger Woods has already confirmed he will be there.

Prize money is going up from €2.5 million to €3.6 million and US Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, speaking on behalf of the International Federation of tours, claimed that the staging of a WGC event in Asia was “one of the most significant steps ever taken in the globalisation of golf”.

He said: “World-class golf has arrived on this continent and the map of the golf world may never look the same.”

The event is on from November 5th-8th, one week before Woods plays the Australian Masters.

George O’Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, commented: “Following four very successful years we are delighted that HSBC is continuing its sponsorship of the HSBC Champions. The European Tour is very happy to support their extended commitment to the tournament and the enhanced status of the tournament to a World Golf Championships event, thus seeing the PGA Tour join as a sanctioning body, meaning that the event is now sanctioned by all the world’s tours.”

The ticket ballot for next year’s Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor – the first ever to be staged in Wales – opened yesterday. A second tranche of tickets will be made available in April next year to accommodate fans unable to make an early commitment, but European captain Colin Montgomerie is encouraging supporters to enter the ballot now. “I’ve already made my first official visit and you can sense the excitement with history in the making,” he said.

Applications can be made via the Ryder Cup ticket website www.rydercup.com/tickets and a computerised random lottery draw will place in August. A limit of eight tickets per household is being set for practice days and four on match days.