Melbourne, Aug 13: The Australian Masters golf championship could be co-sanctioned by the European PGA Tour, promoters said here on Tuesday. Martin Jolly, of the International Management Group, said he would consider joint sanctioning if conditions were favourable.
The Masters, at Melbourne's Huntingdale course, has in recent years trailed other Australian co-sanctioned events offering bigger prizemoney and better fields and Jolly said a joint venture remained a possibility.
"We have talked about it before and toyed with the idea and we would be interested under the right commercial agreement," Jolly said. "Sometimes co-sanctioning does not work well because you have to give up too much for what you get in return. "But we would be foolish not to look at it if we were asked to and the European Tour wants to strengthen its presence in this region."
Three Australasian PGA Tour tournaments are co-sanctioned with the European PGA Tour - the Heineken Classic, Johnnie Walker Classic and the ANZ Championship.

The Masters, to be played from December 5-8, has had its tournament prizemoney boosted by 25 percent to $1.25 million.
The event moves into the December timeslot for the first time this year after switching from its traditional February date. Bureau Report