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The climax of this year's European Tour will have a increased prize fund
A total of $5 million to be shared between 15 players at the DP World Tour Championship
That's a increase on the $3.75 million that was shared between 10 players in 2013
This year's DP World Tour Championship takes place in Dubai in November
The world’s leading golfers have welcomed changes to the European Tour which will see a greater number of players share one of the sport’s bumper prize funds.
The European Tour has announced the season-ending DP World Tour Championship will boast an increased jackpot of $5 million to be shared between the top 15 players.
That’s an increase of $1.25m on last year’s total, which was shared between just 10 players.
The DP World Tour Championship is the climax of the Race to Dubai, the European Tour’s equivalent of the PGA Tour-based FedEx Cup.
Last year Henrik Stenson became the first golfer to win both the Race to Dubai and the FedEx Cup, helping the Swede pocket a cool $20m in 2013.
The world No. 3 welcomed Monday’s announcement, which is designed to encourage more players to participate in the Final Series – the four tournaments, culminating in the DP World Tour Championships, which bring the curtain down on the European Tour season.
Read: Golf’s $20 million aims for major high in 2014
“It’s good to evaluate and make tweaks to any system,” Stenson said in a statement. “These changes are for the better and won’t cut anyone out if they don’t want to play all of the Final Series events.
“It’s down to yourself, but if you do play in all of them you are giving yourself an even better chance of winning The Race to Dubai. It’s always nice to see an increase in the Bonus Pool as well, so I think the announcement is a good move all round.”
In order to play in last year’s DP World Tour Championship, played at Jumeirah Golf Estates, golfers had to compete in at least two of the three events prior to the Dubai finale.
That requirement has now been scrapped, a move welcomed by former world No. 2 Sergio Garcia.
“I’m very happy with the changes and I’m looking forward to The Final Series,” said the Spaniard.
“At the end of the day, we are all working together. I’m very happy to see that we’ve reached a middle ground which should help make us all happy.”
The 2013 Final Series starts with the BMW Masters on October 30 and the WGC-HSBC Champions event on November 9, both set to take place in Shanghai, China.
The Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya, Turkey on November 13 will be the penultimate tournament of the season before the Dubai decider on November 20.
