European golf tour stages big Dubai finish

LONDON, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The European professional golf tour Monday announced the creation of an elite season-ending tournament featuring its top 60 golfers.

The tour said the event will be called the Dubai World Championships with an invited field of the top 60 players on the Order of Merit standings playing for a bonus fund of $10 million. The tournament is to be played after the United States' PGA stages its FedEx Cup series of tournaments.

Players will accumulate points through the golf season with the standings determining the field for the final tournament in Dubai. The Race to Dubai points winner will earn $2 million the top. The top 15 finishers will each collect bonus money, the European Tour said.

The top 60 players in the Race for Dubai would win invitations to the Dubai World Championships, which will also have a purse of $10 million, and will be the final event on the tour's 2009 calendar. The tournament winner will collect $1,666,660 and a five-year European Tour exemption.

The Race to Dubai begins in November 2008 when the European Tour starts the 2009 international schedule.