NEW SCOTTISH TOUR FOR MEN AND WOMEN LAUNCHED

NEWS RELEASE
Optical Express and organisers announced a new professional golf tour for
male and female golfers and invited elite Scottish Amateurs.
First of the six Scottish rounds begin at Stranaer on 5 May 2011 with the rounds continuing until the December international final at the prestigious Son Gual course in Mallorca.
The tour is the brain child of professional golfers Alan Tait and Nigel
Scott-Smith. It's fully supported by leading European golf professionals:
Padraig Harrington, Reteif Goosen, Paul Lawrie and Andrew Coltart.
It's a new international opportunity and will develop Scottish talent. There is
a guaranteed minimum prize fund of £8,000 at each Scottish event and £10,000 in Mallorca for the season's leading 24 players.
Past Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart comments: "I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of an offer to go to America to develop my game where there wer a lot more competitive golf events to keep me driven.
Golf can be difficult, especially if things are not going great and it's
important to keep your focus. The addition of the Optical Express Pro Golf Tour to the Scottish golfing calendar will provide that added incentive to our
golfers to stay driven and push them to get the most out of their game."



The dates and locations of the 2011 Scottish rounds are:
05-06 May Stranraer GC
25-26 May Hilton Park GC
20-21 July The Westerwood
08-09 August The Roxburghe
21-22 September Letham Grange GC
03-04 October Irvine (Bogside) GC


Optical Express Pro Golf Tour final will be at the Son Gual course in Mallorca
in December. Expenses will be paid for the season's leading 24 players.

Paul Lawrie, who won The Open Championship in 1999, said: "The whole ethos behind the Optical Express Pro Golf Tour is the continuing development of talented golfing professionals in Scotland, pure and simple.

Although vital to the growth of any professional golfer in Scotland, it can be a
costly business travelling to similar events in England or Europe and a lot of
our golfing talent is unable to sustain this kind of expense.
We need this tour to continue to produce world class golfers by giving our home grown golf professionals the opportunity to develop their competitive game, in Scotland."
Optical Express launched the tour to encourage new Scottish talent and highlight how peoples' game can be improved with laser eye surgery and healthy eyesight.
Padraig Harrington comments: "I welcome every chance to improve my game and the Optical Express Pro Golf Tour provides Scottish golfing professionals the perfect opportunity to improve their game.
Optical Express is the leading laser eye surgery provider in Europe and having
benefited from their expertise first hand, I know they are the perfect sponsor
to help promote golf development and build aspiring talent."




· Optical Express Pro Golf Tour website opticalexpressPGT.com


· Terms and conditions of the golf tour
1. Membership fee to the Tour for all professionals will be a one off
payment of £75.
2. Membership fee to the Tour for all amateurs will be a one off payment of
£25.
3. Entry fee to each event for professionals will be £115 of which £100
will go directly to the event prize fund and £15 will cover all administration
costs.
4. Each event will have a guaranteed prize fund of £8,000 providing the
total number of entries is at least 45.
5. If the number of entries exceeds 80, the prize fund will increase
accordingly.
6. All final prize fund amounts will be posted online prior to each event.
7. The top 25 leading professionals at each event will receive a share of
the prize fund providing the total numbers are 45 or more.
8. The minimum number of entries to each event is 45.
9. Should the number of entries not reach the minimum amount the event will
be cancelled and all entry fee monies will be returned in full.
10. Female professionals will play to approximately a 10% reduction in
yardage distance.
11. A maximum of 10 amateurs will be invited to compete at the discretion of
the SGU selection programme.
12. If the SGU fail to accept the 10 invitations it will then be opened up
to all amateurs with a handicap of +1 or better on a first come basis.
13. Entry fee to each event for amateurs will be £65 of which £50 will go
directly to the amateur prize-fund and £15 will cover all administration costs.
14. Amateurs will compete for a maximum prize fund of £500. SGU vouchers
available to the top two placed amateurs at each event.
15. Amateurs are NOT eligible to qualify for the Tour Championship.