European Tour knocks Volvo Golf Champions off the 2012 calendar
The second edition of Volvo Golf Champions was scrapped off the European Tour’s 2012 calendar due to political unrest in Bahrain.
The inaugural Volvo Golf Champions was held in January 2011 with a purse of approximately £1.5-million and a field comprising of Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Edoardo Molinari, Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Paul Casey.
Within a short span of time, the country experienced political unrest, which resulted in lot of causalities as the law enforcement authorities reacted to the uprisings. After monitoring the situation in the state, the European Tour alongside the sponsors
have decided to call the tournament off.
A statement was released on the official website of European Tour that read, “In making the decision Volvo and [the tournament organisers] International Management Group recognised the efforts being made by the government of Bahrain to return long-term stability
to Bahrain following events earlier this year.”
He added that Volvo and IMG were thinking of changing the venue for the event, as the tournament intended to return to Bahrain in the near future.
George O'Grady, the chief executive of the European Tour, also commented on the issue, “While this is an unfortunate announcement to have to make after such an impressive first edition of the Volvo Golf Champions, we know that Bahrain is working hard to
address the issues it has faced in recent months as well as to reach out to the international community.”
He added that the tour management and the players enjoyed their visits to Bahrain and would look forward to make a comeback to the deserts to make the tournament bigger than it is today.
The European Tour has assured that other tournaments, including the Dubai World Championship will take place according to the schedules and the cancellation of one event won’t have an impact on the other competition. Its evidence comes from the statement
issued by Keith Waters, the director of international policy of the European Tour, who said that Dubai World Championship would end their sponsorship deal with DP World in the coming December, but despite that the event’s future was secure.
Tags: