ORGANISERS of the Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open are hoping that the £1.5 million prize money for this year's event will attract some of last summer's Ryder Cup stars to Newport.

The Open will be held on one of the prime weekends of the summer from May 29-June 1 - the week immediately after the Volvo PGA Championship and two weeks before the US Open Championship.

Combined with the news, the prize money has been increased from £1.1 million to £1.5 million - double the original £750,000 purse in 2000 - and could well mean some of the top names in golf will make an appearance.

Last year's Wales Open was won by Scotland's Paul Lawrie from a field that included European Ryder Cup team heroes Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Phillip Price and Paul McGinley, the latter having won the tournament in 2001.

Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance and his vice-captain Ian Woosnam also played at Celtic Manor. The 2003 event is sure to attract more world class players to the Wentwood Hills course at the resort, host venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

"This is a plum slot on the European Tour international schedule and we are thrilled to get it," said Wales Open tournament chairman Andy Stanton.

"The purse has increased for the third year running and is actually double the total prize money of the inaugural Wales Open in 2000.

"Each year, the quality of the entry list has got better, even though we have suffered slightly in the past from being placed too close to some of the top US events.

"We are confident that this date and the new prize fund will make 2003 the best Wales Open by far," he added.

Organising the Welsh Open is a 365-day job and Stanton added that hospitality facilities at Wentwood Hills is undergoing a £12m redevelopment programme to tailor it to the requirements of the Ryder Cup.

The new layout will incorporate existing holes - four to 12 - create seven new holes in the Usk Valley, redesign two further holes and include a new clubhouse.

It will start and finish in the valley part of the course.

That will see the hillsides providing a panoramic amphitheatre from which to view the entire course, and there will be ample space for thousands of spectators to follow each match, with the redesigned course having only one spectator crossing on it.