European Tour to cut Dubai purse

The European Tour was dealt a serious financial blow last night when it emerged that the prize money will be cut at their new season-ending spectacular, “The Race to Dubai”.

The tournament, which is due to to take place in November, was originally billed to have the richest purse in golf of some $10m (£4.2m), with the same amount being handed out in money-list bonus prizes.But after tense negotiations in the last week between Tour officials and the beleaguered Emirate, the purse will now be trimmed by at least 20 per cent to $8m.

The players have been told about the new deal which will be announced later this week. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods’ victory in the Buick Open on Sunday night could prove that tournament’s swansong as the struggling sponsors are expected to withdraw their backing.