European Tour forms "SAFETY NET" for player memberships after pandemic struggles
Due to the disruption of the tour schedule in 2020, many players were and are still unable to travel to every single event on the European Tour.
The European Tour has stated that it will implement a "safety net" for the players who fail to finish inside the top 110 on the Race to Dubai standings.
In this 2021 season, players are competing with rankings that were "frozen" from the previous year as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Many players were unable to play in every event and unfortunately, this is still the case for some players which has caused further problems.
After a survey that saw 204 members vote, the European Tour decided not to freeze the 2021 rankings heading into next season and instead, implement a "safety net".
This will provide security for players who do not finish in the top 110 in the Race to Dubai rankings as they will be exempt for the 2022 season.
To keep the performance targets that were set at the start of the season, the European Tour will make a new top 110 for the Race to Dubai and a new top 20 from the Challenge Tour.
To fulfil the "safety net", there will be no Q-school so no current ranked member will lose their membership. The ones who finish outside the top 110 will be re-ranked based on the 2021 Race to Dubai and won't be relegated downwards.
"Altogether, we believe this model does four important things," said European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley.
"It allows for promotion within the current membership. It provides a level of protection for the current ranked membership in these challenging times. It enables the 2021 Challenge Tour to be a counting season with promotion to the European Tour.
"It ensures that commercially we do not jeopardize any of our current sponsor, promoter, partner and broadcast relationships thus allowing us to continue to maximize playing opportunities and prize money both this year, next year and beyond for the entire membership."
Pelley took on feedback from the player survey in which many had complained of how difficult tour life was treating them and Pelley vowed to improve and relax tournament bubbles.
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