Million pound incentive at World Matchplay

Victory in the World Matchplay Championship will now be worth £1m (€1.4m) after the event attracted sponsorship from the world’s second largest bank HSBC.

A 10-year deal with HSBC includes a total annual prize fund of £2.3m (€3.3m).

The competition will be known as the HSBC World Matchplay Championships and will this year celebrate its 40th anniversary at Wentworth.

There will be new qualification rules in place. In previous years, the event has been by invitation only but now, the defending champion, the world number one and the 10 leading players from the HSBC rankings from the four Major championships will take part.

Ernie Els, the defending champion, said: “It will be an unbelievable event this year and I can’t wait to defend my title. Upping the first prize money to £1m is quite unheard of on our European Tour.”