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Presidents Cup blog by Ross Biddiscombe, author of Ryder Cup Revealed: Tales of the Unexpected
PRESIDENTS CUP IS REAL & PRESENT DANGER TO RYDER CUP, SAYS AUTHOR Ross Biddiscombe
In the wake of this year’s Solheim and Walker Cup dramas, the position of team golf within our sport is stronger than ever. The Ryder Cup – now almost 90 years old – is obviously the numero uno among all the team events, but with the Presidents Cup starting next week, it’s interesting to ponder this question: will the Europe vs USA clash always be top of the team contests league table?
After all my research about the Ryder Cup and the opinions and thought-provoking discussions that I’ve experienced over the last two years, I think the simple answer is “no”. The global status and commercial strength of the Ryder Cup just has to come under serious threat from the growing importance of the Presidents Cup over the next dozen or so years. It’s a simple numbers game.
All the talk from Incheon in South Korea where the 11th Presidents Cup will be staged next week indicates that the event will once again be a success with fans, with the players and, crucially, with the TV audiences (that’s where the big income comes from). This is the first time the USA-Internationals match will be staged in Asia and this is the place where golf’s future is so obviously going to be centred in the decades to come. By 2020, some forecasters say, the number of Chinese golfers will be at 20 million while the number of US/Europe players (now around 25 million) will have dropped below that figure by then. Then think of the potential 2.5 billion Chinese and Indian viewers for the Presidents Cup compared to about 600 million in USA and Europe combined. Asia has all the statistical advantages going forward in golf population as well as general population.
The European Tour loves staging tournaments in Asia, the PGA Tour has also recognised the power of the continent (it started PGA Tour China last year as a development tour) and sponsorship money in countries like China, India, South Korea and other nations is in abundance compared to Europe and even America.
This year’s Presidents Cup establishes a strong Asian bridgehead for the Presidents Cup and can you imagine how much TV money will be generated when the Chinese and Indian golf markets mature in a few years time and billions of new fans can watch their heroes play against America? Golf is already well established in South Korea and Japan, and has a strengthening foothold in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, even Vietnam. In the long run, the Ryder Cup cannot beat these numbers.
Ryder Cup Revealed is the first book to set out the financial conflict between the two competing team events and postulate that the Ryder Cup is under threat. The book reports thoroughly on the Ryder Cup finances and releases exclusive figures on the event’s turnover levels that have now reached around £60 million in Europe and $100 million in America. It tells how the European Tour is the managing partner of the Ryder Cup in Europe and controls where profits are spent mostly on golf programmes and development, while the PGA of America – not the PGA Tour – has the same power for the US matches. But it is the PGA Tour and therefore the players themselves like Tiger, Jordan, Phil that have total control of the Presidents Cup and its finances. They spend much of its profits on charitable work: well over $32 million has been given to charities from the Presidents Cup’s coffers since its inauguration 21 years ago.
One day the Presidents Cup turnover will overtake the Ryder Cup’s simply because of the Asian factor. The Ryder Cup will be a must-see and successful event for many years, but the Presidents Cup is making up ground fast in terms of prestige, global interest and income levels. Plus, as more Asian players take part, it will grow exponentially. With the full power of the PGA Tour behind it, plus all the growth in Asia, how can it not become bigger than the Ryder Cup.
The PGA Tour has no control or financial stake in the Ryder Cup and Commissioner Tim Finchem has a massive future advantage with the Asian market, especially when more and more players from that continent feature in the top 50 of the world rankings.
Eventually, of course, Samuel Ryder’s original concept of the Ryder Cup will come into question – he said his trophy should be contested by players from the world’s two best sporting nations. It’s highly possible that in a generation one of those nations could be in Asia.
The 11th Presidents Cup takes place in Incheon, South Korea from 8-11 October. The US team is captained by Jay Haas and his International team counterpart is South Africa’s Nick Price. Anirban Lahiri (India), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) and Sang-moon Bae (S Koria) are Price’s Asian players.
The e-book version of Ryder Cup Revealed: Tales of the Unexpected is available now on all digital platforms including Amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/qbp6ltj) and contains photographs and extra chapters as well as all the chapters in the original hardback version
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