European Tour cultivates Rolex Series to offer high-purse events

The European Tour announced Tuesday a new seven-event, loosely connected series, dubbed the Rolex Series, which will offer high-purse events designed to maintain the allegiance of the best European-born players and attract other top global stars.

The docket, which starts in May with the Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship in England, will feature six events with a purse of $7 million, and it will conclude with the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, which will have an $8 million purse. The five other tournaments in the series are the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the Italian Open, the Turkish Airlines Open and the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.

The series effectively renders the current Final Series — the three-event, formerly four-event, swing that led to the season’s conclusion — dead.

The Rolex Series events now make it easier for top European players and European Tour members to target particular tournaments. A rule implemented in 2016 simplifies the minimum participation to maintain European Tour membership, requiring players to compete in five events that are not majors or World Golf Championships events. Now those top players who straddle both sides of the Atlantic have seven choices.

Rory McIlroy is among those European players lauding the change.

“The Rolex Series announcement is fantastic news,” McIlroy said Tuesday at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “I think to be able to bring some of the bigger and best tournaments on The European Tour schedule and put them into this Rolex Series where obviously you’re playing for an increased prize fund, is fantastic. It’s a great thing for The European Tour and our membership. And to have the opportunity to bring more of the best players together more often, I think is going to be a real boost for The European Tour.”

Now the Rolex Series combines with the majors and WGCs to offer a 15-event European Tour-sanctioned schedule. Recognizing it was at risk of creating a have-and-have-not tour, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley also announced the creation of the Access Series, which comprises all of the European Tour-sanctioned events outside of those elite 15. The top 10 money earners in those events will maintain their European Tour cards for next season.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.