British Masters Belfry tournament in jeopardy over sponsor fears
THE Midlands is faced with not having a top-class European Tour golf event this season for the first time in years.
There are fears that the annual British Masters tournament has fallen victim to the economic recession after organisers revealed that they could not find sufficient sponsorship to stage the event.
The Quinn Insurance British Masters has been staged at The Belfry, near Sutton Coldfield, for the past three years and, before that, enjoyed a run at the Marriott Forest of Arden near Meriden.
This year’s event, which normally costs about £2 million to stage, has been provisionally billed for The Belfy, former home of the Ryder Cup, between September 17-20.
But Chubby Chandler, boss of International Sports Management, which organises the Masters, has revealed: “I can say it’s 99 per cent certain we won’t be staging the event in the Midlands this year, and I’m 90 per cent certain we won’t have a tournament anyway.
“I’m short of a million pounds. If anybody came along with that sort of money, we’d have an event.”
The first nail in the Masters’ coffin came last autumn when Quinn Direct, owners of The Belfry, announced they would not be renewing their contract to finance the tournament.
If no other sponsor can be found, it is likely that the British Masters would be moved to the north-west of England.
