INTERNATIONAL golf tournaments featuring some of the world’s top players are set to be held at a west Oxfordshire course.

The likes of Colin Montgomerie and Darren Clarke could soon be teeing off at Heythrop Park, near Chipping Norton, after plans to stage major competitions at the course were approved.

Up to 200 jobs will be created if Heythrop Park – which is investing £50m into a project for an 18-hole golf course and a Crown Plaza hotel – hosts the PGA European Tour’s British Masters in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Organisers also want to stage the PGA European Senior tour in September.

The facility’s management has begun talks with organisers of both tournaments, but could not progress plans until West Oxfordshire District Council granted it permission to host the events.

On Monday, the council gave the facility permission.

Last night, John Angus, director of operations at Heythrop Park – which is owned by former Oxford United chairman Firoz Kassam’s company Firoka – said: “It is fantastic news for us, but work still needs to be done.

“By getting planning permission we have cleared a massive hurdle, but now we need to sit down with the European Tour and sign the contracts.

“This is a very big step for us and has moved the course much closer to holding this prestigious event.”

Mr Angus claimed the Masters would attract more than 12,000 people to the area, each spending on average £75 in the local economy.

Approximately 39 buses an hour would transport visitors from a car park at Enstone Airfield to the park.

Mr Angus said: “We are talking about no more than 2,000 cars on the Sunday, when people leave, and it will be over a weekend when it is quiet anyway. It’s not going to make a massive impact, but the economic benefit is big.”

Mr Angus said similar events held by the European Tour had generated about £5m for the areas they were held in.

Heythrop Parish Meeting, which was consulted as part of the plans, raised concerns about the influx of traffic during the tournament and disruption to surrounding villages.

Last night, nobody from the meeting was available for comment.

The resort had to apply for permission for the tournament because it breaks a condition set out by planners when it was first approved in 2004.

Initially it was decided the golf course could not be used for any events, tournaments or competitions that are open to the public as spectators.

West Oxfordshire District Council spokesman Claire Maloney said the decision was for the next five years, with each tournament allowed to run for up to five consecutive days.

A spokesman for the PGA European Tour said: “Discussions are ongoing regarding an event at Heythrop Park this year, with a view to having a full European Tour event there in 2011.”