European Tour drops Bahrain tournament for 2012

Golf’s European Tour will not be returning to Bahrain next year. The European Tour said the Volvo Golf Champions will not take place at Bahrain’s Royal Golf Club but that the tour’s return to the Gulf kingdom has been “delayed” rather than cancelled following political unrest there.

The European Tour said “with work still ongoing to resolve issues in Bahrain and the need to confirm the venue by the end of July 2011, the difficult decision to postpone the event for 2012 was taken.”

Tournament sponsor Volvo and tournament organiser International Management Group will rotate future events between a handful of locations, including Bahrain.