Sydney - The Australian Open golf championship has been moved up by a week this year to avoid clashing with the first Ashes cricket Test between Australia and England.
The 102-year-old Open will be held at Royal Sydney from November 16-19. The first Test starts in Brisbane on November 23.
"We didn't think it would be a great idea to put it up against the 'Olympics of cricket'," Golf Australia chief executive Tony Hallam said on Friday.
The tournament has also expanded its field from 120 to 144 players.
The change in schedule opens a gap in the Australian tournament season which will be filled by the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour, Auckland from November 23-26. It will be co-sanctioned by the European Tour.
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The players then fly back across the Tasman Sea for the Australian Masters from November 30 to December 3 at Huntingdale, also co-sanctioned in Europe, and then the season-ending Australian PGA at Coolum from December 7-10.
Royal Sydney, a testing 6 940-yard par-72 layout near the shores of Sydney Harbour, last hosted the Australian Open in 1999, when Aaron Baddeley won as an amateur.
Robert Allenby, defending champion this year after having won the Australian Open, Masters and PGA in 2005, won the previous staging at Royal Sydney in 1994. - Sapa-AP
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