DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The European Tour schedule will feature six new tournaments and seven new venues in a 47-tournament season in 2015.
The European Tour announced the schedule Sunday ahead of the final round of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
New Race to Dubai events include the Thailand Classic from Feb. 12 at Black Mountain in Hua Hin, the Hero Indian Open from Feb. 19 at a venue to be decided, the Shenzhen International from April 16 and the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Heritage Golf Course from May 7.
Also new to the schedule is the Paul Lawrie Match Play from July 30 in Aberdeen, Scotland and the return of the European Open after five years to be played from Sep. 24 in Bad Griesbach, Germany.
Six events will be staged in South Africa in 2014 and four in Scotland, but only one in England and there will be no Wales Open.
In a big change to the schedule, the European Masters has been moved from its traditional date in September to the week after the British Open and will be staged in Switzerland from July 23.
This new date for the Swiss event is seen as a move to entice both World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and World No. 2 Adam Scott to compete. McIlroy is an ambassador for the event sponsor, but the September date has always clashed with the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Play Off Series.
Scott has a house in the Swiss resort town of Crans Montana and has indicated he would probably add the event to his schedule now that it has been moved to July.
Also, the Hong Kong Open has been moved and will now be staged from Oct. 22, the week prior to the commencement of the Tour's Final Four Series.
Missing from the 2015 schedule is the Volvo Champions that has been played for the last four years, as well as the Wales Open that was run from 2000 to 2014 The World Match-Play Championship has yet to be allocated a date on the schedule.