Golf-Full schedule of events lined up for 2010 PGA Tour

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

LOS ANGELES, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The PGA Tour has announced a full schedule of 41 events for the 2010 FedExCup season, maintaining the same number for a third successive year despite the global economic downturn.

The Tour will begin in Kapalua, Hawaii from Jan. 7-10 with the elite winners-only SBS Championship and end in Atlanta from Sept. 23-26 with the Tour Championship, the last of four lucrative playoff events.

"We are very pleased to announce our schedule through the 2010 FedExCup season," commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement on Tuesday. "Despite difficult economic times we once again have a full slate of events."

In the biggest schedule changes, the Greenbrier Classic will make its debut from July 29-Aug. 1 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia while new dates have been given for the Turning Stone Resort Championship and the Reno-Tahoe Open.

The Turning Stone shifts from the Fall Series to the FedExCup season and will take place from Aug. 5-8. The Reno-Tahoe Open will be brought forward to July 15-18, the same week as the British Open at St Andrews in Scotland.

The World Golf Championship events, one rung down from the majors, will open with the Accenture Match Play Championship in Marana, Arizona in February followed by the WGC-CA Championship in Miami in March.

The third and final stop in the high-profile series will be the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio from Aug. 5-8.

The Fall Series schedule will be announced at a later date.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)