Warmer spot for European Open

THE Smurfit sponsored European Open received a major boost yesterday with the announcement by the PGA that it is being brought forward to August on next season's PGA Tour.

The event's new slot on the calendar, between August 21st and 24th, should mean that the tournament will benefit from better weather conditions than it has so far enjoyed in Ireland but, more importantly, it also ensures that the championship will be the only one to count twice in the race for Ryder Cup places.

The battle to secure one of the automatic places on the European Ryder Cup team ends on August 31st next and, while the Straffanbased event benefited last year from being the first event which players from this side of the Atlantic appeared at after their victory in Rochester, its new place in the schedule should make the task of attracting leading players considerably easier for the organisers.

It should also help to boost attendances at the event, which over the past two years has failed to draw anything approaching the sort of crowds that have traditionally watched the Irish Open. The publicity surrounding the closing stages of the Ryder Cup points race should help to bring spectators to the course.

Meanwhile, other events on the move include the BMW International Open which will now take place over the last weekend in August, the slot previously occupied by the German Open, which is being brought forward to an earlier weekend in the summer. The Northumberland Challenge is also being moved, in order to avoid a clash with the US Open.

The successful debut of the Loch Lomond World Invitational has earned it the weekend traditionally occupied by the Scottish Open, with the new event switch ing next year to a July 9th start immediately ahead of the British Open Championship.

Still undecided for the moment, however, are some of the venues for the 1997 Tour, with the British Masters just one of several events for which a course has yet to be named.

Collingwood will not be used for the Masters. European Tour executive director Ken Schofield said: "We are investigating the Collingtree affair and have taken the view the course should be suspended. The disintegration of the greens there fractured the confidence of the players and the administration."