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George O'Grady stands on the Burj Al Arab in Dubai after announcing a $97m sponsorship deal for the European Tour

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The news from the European Tour this week of a new sponsorship deal worth $97 million over the next five years is not just good news but great news for the European game.

In the details of the European Tour's statement of sponsorship with Leisurecorp, the company developing Dubai's leading residential golf community at Jumeirah Golf Estates, came news of rebranding the European Order of Merit at the Race to Dubai, and a season-ending tournament, beginning in November 2009, called the Dubai World Championship, worth around £10m, making it the richest golf tournament in the world currently.

When I first started playing golf on the Tour, way back in 1985, it was basically a tour played exclusively in Europe. That couldn't go on forever because the financial climate here couldn't support a year-long tour at this level and the game and the Tour had to change and become global.

The changes became noticable six or seven years ago with co-sanctioned events with the likes of the Asian Tour and Australasian Tour and those events have grown in popularity and wealth. The next step was to grow further and this announcement is part of the next step.

For the young guys coming into the game today a global game, played 12 months of the year - opposed to one restricted by the weather in Europe a decade ago - is a hugely positive step. They are arriving on a Tour that is immensely strong in talent and, with the new deals they are doing, increasingly strong financially.

Ken Schofield began the job and his successor as the Tour's chief executive, George O'Grady, is continuing the fabulous work. It is a wonderful time for the current crop of superstars on the European Tour and the young players hoping to emulate them.

The Dubai World Championship gives them the richest tournament in the world and, although it will be eclipsed one day because prize funds will grow and people will always want to host the richest event, the $10m prize fund for the Dubai World Championship and the $10m bonus pool for the Race to Dubai (15th place in the old Order of Merit would win $250,000) are great incentives to play on the tour.

You will get very strong fields at the Dubai Championship and a climax to the season that the European Tour deserves.

Hugely exciting for me too is that we will go back to having a calendar year season. I have never been a big fan of having the 2008 season starting in November 2007, one week after the 2007 season has ended, and having five tournaments in the wrong calendar year.

What George O'Grady is doing that is so right, so positive and so creative is looking at the end of the US Tour and putting strength after that. The US Tour finishes quite early, and so players who want to play up until Christmas can come and play around the world on the European Tour.

This is only likely to increase the quality of fields throughout the year on the European Tour. We have already seen players like Phil Mickelson travel - to the HSBC Champions event and Barclays Singapore Open - and this news is only like to increase the quality of players on the Tour.

We are going to see some of the world's best players, chasing some of the money available but also the world ranking points that mean so much to the multi-millionaire golfers who don't need to play for the money. It is self perpetuating because the stronger the field, the more ranking points are available.

The players all pride themselves on the World Rankings and if the guys don't turn up and play, they will not earn the points.

I think this news will affect lots of the top players on the tour, Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia, to name but a few - although maybe not one, the World No.1.

Tiger Woods is an exception to the rule because he can play anywhere he wants. at any event, for his required fee. If he doesn't get his fee, he may not play, and rightly so being the world's pre-eminent golfer and someone who may be proved to be the greatest player in the history of the game.

In his ability and in his record, Tiger stands alone - and in his class and demeanour too because he is such a great ambassador for the game - and it will still be fantastic to see him when he does play in any of our events. If we can lure him to play in one extra event each season with the new Tour, then brilliant.

The money helps - and so do the world ranking points - in assembling a good field, but so to does the plain fact that the best players like to play against, and try to beat the best players. As more and more players come to play in these events, more and more players will be dragged along behind them.

The end result is a stronger Tour, and a stronger global European game, and the Tour should be applauded for its bold step.