Golf's European Tour will not return to Bahrain early next year after organizers announced Monday that they were scrapping plans for an event because of the political unrest in the Middle Eastern state.
The inaugural Volvo Golf Champions was held in Bahrain in January, but its place in the 2012 calendar was in doubt a month later when demonstrations broke out across the Gulf kingdom, with a number of deaths in clashes with authorities.
The European Tour gave Bahrain until the end of July to demonstrate that the venue was safe for players and fans to return. But they regretfully judged that "work [is] still ongoing to resolve issues in Bahrain" and postponed the event.
"In making the decision, Volvo and [tournament organizer] International Management Group [IMG] recognized the efforts being made by the government of Bahrain to return long-term stability to Bahrain following events earlier this year," a joint statement read.
It added, "Volvo and IMG have now decided that the Volvo Golf Champions will rotate between a very few select world-class venues, including The Royal Golf Club, Bahrain, with the other venues to be announced in the future, thus stating their intention to return to Bahrain in the future."
January's Volvo Golf Champions was won by England's Paul Casey, in a field that included recent British Open champion Darren Clarke and three-time major winner Padraig Harrington.
