The European Open, which this year featured only four members of last year's Ryder Cup team, has lost its sponsor.
The tournament has been staged at The K Club every year since 1995, but it was announced today that the Smurfit Kappa Group have ended their backing with immediate effect.
Company chief executive Gary McGann said: "We have had a very successful relationship with The European Tour over the last 13 years, during which time the European Open became one of the leading events on the tour's circuit.
"Last year The K Club also hosted what most commentators regard as the most successful ever staging of The Ryder Cup.
"SKG's decision is based on the increasingly international scale of our business and the inability of a brand such as ours to obtain full value from the sponsorship."
Colin Montgomerie won the title in July, but Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley and David Howell were his only 2006 cup team-mates who also returned to the venue.
George O'Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, said: "We are indebted to the Smurfit Kappa Group, with whom we have reached an amicable agreement for the future, for their sponsorship and leadership of the European Open for the past 13 years, qualities which have elevated the stature of the Championship within the European Tour international schedule since 1995.
"The success of the Championship is a tribute to the vision of Dr Michael Smurfit, who has done so much for the European Open Golf Championship, for golf in Ireland, and for the Ryder Cup.
"The European Open is a key fixture on the European Tour, offering as it does a much coveted opportunity for business, and negotiations are already advanced re its future."
The tournament appears with no title sponsor on today's release of next season's full Tour schedule and will occupy the same week (July 3-6) a fortnight before The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
The Celtic Manor Wales Open on May 29th to June 1st switches to the new lay-out which will also stage the 2010 Ryder Cup and will see prize money increase from £1.5million to £1.8million.
It will be one of a minimum of 50 Order of Merit tournaments, with the final qualifying event for the Ryder Cup being the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on August 28-31.
The circuit visits India and South Korea for the first time. PA
