After being renamed ‘The Mizuno Next Gen Series’ earlier this year, Mizuno has announced that its partnership with the Clutch Pro Tour is about to hit new heights for 2023.
The 2023 Mizuno Next Gen Series will offer 36 UK events with a total prize fund of £1.8m and over 40 Challenge Tour invites.
A revamped two-tier development system will see 18 Tier One events with a minimum prize value of £60,000, including three £100,000 prize fund events, and 18 multi-day events in Tier Two with prize funds of a guaranteed £30,000.
Mizuno’s David Matthews believes the series is needed to offset turmoil on tour over the last few years. “The opportunities for emerging talent have been limited for a few years since COVID hit. The #MizNextGen Series is our way of resolving that. It also aligns really well with the type of players Mizuno is going to support in the future. Mizuno’s money isn’t needed at the elite level of the game now – we’ll let our equipment do most of our future the work there. We need to invest where players actually feel the benefit.”
As the fabric of development golf in Europe is changing following the EuroPro Tour’s impending demise, Mizuno’s multi-year title sponsorship of a tour that provides vital playing opportunities for young professionals in the UK deepens the brands focus on developing emerging talent.
Mizuno Tour Manager Alex Thorne commented: “This is huge for Mizuno. With recent changes to the development tours, this is going to create even more opportunities for talented players and we can’t wait to be a part of it.”
“As we’ve said before, there’s a legacy of world no.1s and major winners to have played Mizuno equipment and it’s our responsibility to make sure that continues. We believe partnerships like this one with the Clutch Pro Tour, offer the most meaningful way to do that and also enable us to work with young talented players and help them make those strides to the game’s elite level.”