Brooks Koepka is not defending his title this week at the Turkish Airlines Open, the first of four events in the European Tour's Final Series, culminating in the end of the Race to Dubai.
Koepka won't be in the field because he's chosen to focus on the PGA Tour. In fact, he's given up his European Tour membership, officially doing so on Monday.
The American's decision to walk away from the European Tour, however, means good news for Englishman Ben Evans. Despite a T-6 finish in the regular-season ending Hong Kong Open on Sunday, Evans finished 111th on the Tour's Order of Merit, costing him full status for next season. With Koepka walking away from his membership, Evans moves up a spot on the money list and has now earned the card that Koepka would have been given.
Evans took to Twitter to react gleefully to the news.
Well @EuropeanTour it's been a 24hr rollercoaster. Overwhelmed and so happy to be told I've moved to 110 on R2D Cant wait for 2016!#buzzing
— Ben Evans (@benevansgolf) October 26, 2015
