PARIS (France): The French Open has been dropped from the 2021 European men’s golf tour, French Golf Federation (FGF) said on Thursday.
The European schedule, due to start in Abu Dhabi on January 21 and end in Dubai on November 21, is made up of 42 tournaments in 24 countries and four continents.
“Several possibilities are being studied, concerning the title sponsorship, as well as the date of the tournament. The health crisis does not facilitate the equation,” FFG said in a statement.
It contains 18 events either postponed or cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic but the French Open is excluded.
Two years ago, Europe, led by captain Thomas Bjorn, won the Ryder Cup against the United States on the National Golf Course located in Saint Quentin en Yvelines, near Versailles. Yet the elite golfers are unlikely to tread the course next season.
The event was downgraded in 2019 after the departure of Chinese investors HNA and cancelled in 2020 due to the virus outbreak.
However, there is still an open slot for a ‘European event’ from May 6-9 on the schedule and the FFG have not given up hope of taking it.
In announcing the European schedule earlier this week tour CEO Keith Pelley said they had rethought their planning after the problems last season.
“There is no question that the challenge of reshaping our 2020 season in many ways informed our approach to 2021,” Pelley said.
“One of the key learnings was to group events together in terms of their geographical location to create a more travel friendly season for our members. That is reflected in numerous concentrations of event locations.”
