Golf-Valhalla Ryder Cup forces date change for Tour Championship

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

LOS ANGELES, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Next year's Tour Championship has been put back two weeks to give players more time to prepare for the biennial Ryder Cup team competition, the PGA Tour said on Tuesday.

The Tour Championship, the fourth and final event in the lucrative FedExCup playoff series, will take place from Sept. 25-28, one week after the Ryder Cup in Louisville, Kentucky.

The date change was approved by the PGA Tour's policy board on Monday and relayed on Tuesday to Tour members and the media by PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

"This move provides a one-week gap between the third playoff event, the BMW Championship, and the Ryder Cup so as not to adversely affect either the Ryder Cup or the Tour Championship," Finchem said.

"We felt it was important to give those members of both the U.S. and European teams who will be competing in the playoffs the ability to prepare for the Ryder Cup while also focusing on the Tour Championship the following week."

The Tour Championship will be played for the fifth year in a row at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The Ryder Cup is being staged at Valhalla Golf Club from Sept. 19-21.

Finchem also announced the complete 2008 PGA Tour schedule which will offer a total prize fund in excess of $278 million from 48 events.

The Tour will begin in Kapalua, Hawaii from Jan. 3-6 with the elite winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship and conclude with the final event of the Fall Series, the Walt Disney Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Florida from Nov. 6-9.