SERGIO Garcia and Padraig Harrington have backed the inaugural 'Race to Dubai', indicating that the lucrative Dubai World Championship would see them making more appearances in Europe.
So far in 2008, Spain's Garcia has played 11 times on the European Tour, although seven of those are taken up by the majors and World Golf Championship events, while Ireland's Harrington has appeared 14 times.
"This tournament represents a real st
atement of intent by the European Tour and Dubai," said Garcia, who helped design one of the courses at Jumeirah Golf Estates. "The Tour has clearly moved up a gear in its ability to attract the world's best players and Dubai has reinforced its position as a centre of world golf.
"It will certainly help focus the interest of the players throughout the year and I, for one, will be seeking to get to Dubai and make it a great finish to the season."
Harrington, overtaken in this year's Order of Merit by Robert Karlsson after the Swede's win the Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday, added: "I think the Race to Dubai will add a sparkle. I know many of the pros, including myself, are looking at our schedules to give ourselves the best chances of going out there and winning that.
"I have a very tight schedule on both sides of the world but I would like to give myself a good chance of winning that, especially in the first year."
A number of high-profile players, including Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, have expressed interest in European Tour membership, but have yet to commit themselves to do so.
"I think Vijay is going to do it because he told me he's going to win the Dubai World Championship, and he'll have to be in it to win it," said European Tour chief executive George O'Grady.
He insisted the Race to Dubai was not about competing with the PGA Tour in America, but admitted lessons had been learnt from across the Atlantic in the current financial climate.
"We don't want to be involved with too many rocky banks," he added in reference to the number of American events sponsored by financial institutions. We are well aware of what's happening in the financial markets in the world and that's why we have enormous confidence in our partnership with Leisurecorp. The schedule is 98 per cent rock solid."
Leisurecorp is the Dubai World company which specialises in developments and investments in sport and with whom the European Tour has a wide-ranging partnership. They also recently bought Turnberry, the stage for next year's Open.
David Spencer, chief executive officer (golf) for Leisurecorp, said: "When we sat down to work with the European Tour we stated we wanted to create an event that was bigger than one player and we have poured our heart and soul into that. We did not have the US Tour in our sights. That being said, I think the Race to Dubai has raised the bar of professional golf. Mr Finchem (US Tour commissioner) is very impressed with what we have put together. It has captured the imagination of professional players all over the world."
Several venues have yet to be confirmed, including one for the Seve Trophy, but O'Grady revealed the Tour plans to take over the running of the event.
"These are tough times and it's a work in progress. We have significant interest but it's not a done deal," said O'Grady.
The full article contains 586 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
