British Masters Reportedly Not Returning In 2019

The European Tour are set to announce their 2019 schedule which will not feature the British Masters according to reports

British Masters Reportedly Not Returning In 2019

The British Masters hosted by Justin Rose played out at Walton Heath this weekend but it may be the last time we see the tournament for a while.

After a hiatus from 2009-2014, it appears the beloved tournament will once again be taking a break from the European Tour's schedule.

That's according to reports, which say that the tournament has struggled to find a sponsor after its four-year deal with Sky Sports came to an end.

Sky sponsored the tournament for the past four years, which saw high profile English hosts take it to areas and golf courses significant to them.

Ian Poulter hosted at Woburn in 2015, the British Masters' first appearance since 2008, before Luke Donald hosted at The Grove in 2016, Lee Westwood at Close House last year and then Rose at Walton Heath this time around.

The European Tour's 2018-19 schedule is imminent so more will be known very soon, we can only hope that they leave a gap for it and do manage to find a sponsor in the coming weeks and months.

This year's host Justin Rose seemed to confirm the news to the Mail on Sunday and said that other, smaller events should be left off the schedule as oppose to historic ones like the British Masters.

"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," he said.

"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."

The British Masters was first played in 1946 and has been won by a plethora of legends of the game including Bobby Locke, Dai Rees, Seve Ballesteros, Christie O'Connor Sr and Jr, Peter Thomson, Lee Trevino, Tony Jacklin, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie... the list goes on!

As well as a spectacular past champions list, it has also visited some of Britain's best and most historic golf courses, including Sunningdale, St Andrews, Royal Birkdale, Royal Porthcawl, The Belfry, Woburn, Notts GC, Royal Lytham and St Annes and more.

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