The European Tour's new look 'Race to Dubai' schedule for 2009 will start next month with the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.

Some 53 tournaments will be played in 26 destinations before the US$20 million finale, the Dubai World Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai from November 19-22, 2009.

Five tournaments - the Czech Golf Open, The English Open, the Canal Plus Open, the Volvo World Match Play Championship and The Dubai World Championship - are added to the 2009 schedule on which the New Zealand Open, the BMW Asian Open and the Volvo Masters will not feature.

Two tournaments - the HSBC Champions, which starts on November 6 in Shanghai, and the UBS Hong Kong Open - will be played twice on the 2009 schedule, then the 2010 season will revert to a calendar year schedule.

"We are excited about the start of the Race to Dubai and the superb quality of the field for the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, with five of the top seven currently active players in the world all entered," George O'Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, said yesterday.

"The 2009 European Tour international schedule confirms how the European Tour has become ever-more global."

The Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland, from September 3-6 will again launch the start of the qualifying race for places in the European team for the 2010 Ryder Cup to be played in Europe.

Phil Mickelson will defend the HSBC title at the Sheshan golf club next month.

In Beijing, Liao Guiming, Li Chao and Chinese Taipei's Hsu Mong-nan and Chan Yih-shin are among the pre-tournament favorites for this week's RMB1 million Omega Championship, the Omega China Tour's season-ending event.

The purse of RMB1 million (about US$146,000) is the biggest ever on the Omega China Tour.

Liao, 31, is looking to win his first Omega Order of Merit title and currently leads the list with RMB360,750. Third-placed Li, winner of this year's Dell Championship in Xiamen, is the only player who can leapfrog Liao, as second-placed Zhang Lianwei is not playing in Beijing.

Li, who has RMB215,500, would secure his third Omega Order of Merit in four seasons if the Beijing-born big hitter took home the RMB187,500 winner's check and Liao finished outside the top three at the Beijing Longxi Hotspring Golf Club.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily October 7, 2008)