The Tartan Tour is plotting a path out of the recession with hopes of an increased total prize fund for 2011, the securing of its two top events and the addition of another organised by Paul Lawrie.
The Paul Lawrie Invitational tournament to be held at Deeside is the major new addition to the schedule this year, which will culminate with the Gleneagles Scottish Professional Championship on the King’s Course in early October.
That was the first time the national championship had been played with a restricted field of 66 as the season finale, and the success of the return to King’s, with Chris Doak claiming the title after shooting a 61, has cemented its future.
The relaunch of the Northern Open with top amateur international players competing will be repeated in late August, while Lawrie’s new £25,000 tournament will be played in mid-June.
The Sprint series launched last year with four events leading to a finale at the Duke’s Course in St Andrews will be repeated and upgraded to Order of Merit status, while there will be a minimum of three other 36-hole events counting towards the tour title.
With the top events secure, events for assistant pros have been upgraded, with the number of Order of Merit events increased to six.
PGA Scottish secretary Michael MacDougall said that while a number of events had yet to finalised, the domestic tour was battling its way out of difficult times.
“Last year the priority was to secure the Scottish Championship and the Northern Open, and we’ve done that while adding Paul’s event,” he said. “He’s been a long-time supporter of the PGA in Scotland and has for a long time been considering how best to use his influence for the benefit of his fellow professionals here, and he has already negotiated sponsorship from three companies for the first of his own events.”
Tartan Tour prizemoney dipped during the recession to £550,000 last year, but the signs are that it will start to rise again this year.
“It’s difficult to put a final total on the prizemoney with so many things to be finalised, but we would expect to get back above the £600,000 mark in 2011 which is a good performance in the current economic climate,” he added.