European Tour's membership criteria to change from next season

The European Tour has made significant alterations to its membership guidelines from next season, reducing the number of events players need to compete in.

Since the 2011 season, all European Tour players have been required to play a minimum of 13 events in order to be included in the final Race to Dubai rankings and stay eligible for membership, but from next year players will only need to feature in only five tournaments outside of the majors and WGCs.

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The changes, announced at a press conference in Dubai which also outlined a change to the Final Series from next season, have been designed to help players plan their schedules more effectively, with the Ryder Cup, EurAsia Cup and the Olympic Games all events that will count towards fulfilling the required number of tournaments.

Although the alternations will make no real difference to players inside the world's top 50, they could benefit the likes of former world No 1 Luke Donald, who is currently ranked 77th but wants to play on both the PGA and European Tour.

"The change to our minimum tournament requirement for the 2016 season recognises that many of our members are global players who, at the same time, wish to remain loyal to the European Tour," Keith Pelley, the European Tour's chief executive, said.

Final Series to change from 2016

The European Tour also announced changes to the schedule from next season

"When you are within the top 50 in the world rankings and eligible for the major championships and the World Golf Championships, that is attainable. But for those on the cusp, it is harder to plan.

"This change will benefit them and enable them to continue to remain in membership with us. At the same time it also ensures we have not changed or reduced the commitments required by our members to participate in 'regular' European Tour tournaments, as we continue to strive to deliver world-class fields across the globe."

The changes should also help to avoid scenarios like Ian Poulter faced last month, where he made a last-minute dash to play in the Hong Kong Open thinking he'd fall one event short, only to eventually feature as seventh reserve at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. 

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