The European Tour has "ramped up efforts to persuade Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and its other elite golfers to turn their backs on the U.S. circuit by launching the money-spinning Rolex Series," according to Tony Jimenez of REUTERS. CEO Keith Pelley described it as "a critical game-changer" after announcing that seven tournaments offering minimum purses of $7M would be featured in the new series next year. It will begin with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May and "continue in July with the Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation and the Scottish Open." The fourth event is the Italian Open in Rome in October before the series, and the season ends in November with the Turkish Airlines Open, the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai (REUTERS, 11/15). SKY SPORTS reported Pelley is "confident of more events being added in the future." He said, "I'm going to caveat that by saying a minimum of seven tournaments, as we expect to have eight or nine in 2017. We're currently under discussions with some other partners as we speak. They are all a minimum of seven million dollar prize purse, and I say a minimum because obviously the DP World is here at eight million, and that is the threshold that we felt that was needed to produce something of a high quality like the Rolex Series" (SKY SPORTS, 11/15). The BELFAST TELEGRAPH reported McIlroy has "welcomed the inclusion of the Irish Open in the European Tour's new Rolex Series." The event's minimum prize fund of $7M "represents an increase" of more than £2M ($2.5M) on this year's event. McIlroy: "The Irish Open's been given a great date as well. It's two weeks before the Open on a links golf course (Portstewart). We're really excited about it. It doesn't change my schedule that much but it gives guys an incentive to maybe play a little bit more on this side of the pond" (BELFAST TELEGRAPH, 11/15).
