Justin Rose fuming as British Masters reportedly won't be back in 2019
Justin Rose: "There are so many events on the European Tour that shouldn't be there..."
The British Masters will reportedly not be returning to the European Tour schedule in 2019 after struggling to find a tournament sponsor after its four-year deal with Sky Sports came to an end last week.
Justin Rose hosted what many European Tour professionals consider to be the best British Masters of all time at Walton Heath last week, a tournament won by Englishman Eddie Pepperell.
The British Masters was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was staged every year except for 1984 up until 2008. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently thereafter, with the word 'British' usually also in the tournament's official name.
WATCH: LAD NECKS PINT WHILE LIVE ON AIR AT BRITISH MASTERS!
Nathan Homer from the @EuropeanTour has confirmed to us on @talkSPORT this morning the @MailSport story from Derek Lawrenson that as yet next years British Masters doesn't has a headline sponsor and isn't (as yet) on the schedule. Hope that changes!
— Georgie Bingham (@georgiebingham) October 13, 2018
After a six-year hiatus from 2009 to 2014, Sky Sports picked up the reigns to sponsor the tournament for four years, with a big-name English Tour pro hosting each of them.
Ian Poulter hosted at Woburn in 2015, and he was followed by Luke Donald at The Grove, Lee Westwood at Close House in 2017 and Rose at Walton Heath in 2018.
Rose, speaking to the Mail on Sunday, appeared miffed by the lack of sponsorship coming forwards in order to keep this prestigious tournament going.
“Dare I say it, there are so many events on the European Tour that shouldn’t be there, and these events with history are the ones that should be there,” said Rose.
“I wonder if we should be focusing on condensing things slightly, and stressing quality over quantity.
“It’s such a shame when we lose events like this one, and we’ve seen it far too often with the loss of other traditional events like the European Open.
“These are the ones where the fans really come out in force in the UK and support them and they create the type of atmosphere which makes it such a pleasure for the players to compete.”
