Pelley plans to cook up world-beating tour

by John Huggan

No matter how often the Old World’s finest golfers give those pesky colonials a right good kicking in the biennial Ryder Cup matches, the European Tour has forever been perceived as second best. Awash with cash and geographically adjacent to three of the world’s four most prestigious events, America’s PGA Tour is almost universally regarded as the premier place to play for any and all professionals.

Such a glib assessment depends on the criteria applied though. Yes, the PGA Tour is clearly the most advantageous in a financial sense. Every week the winner of an event picks up a seven-figure sum. But is it the most encouraging environment for the golfer who wants to become the best he can be? Maybe. But only if that player is happy wearing the one-dimensional, “hit the same shot time after time after time” uniform that tends to bring success on courses set-up almost identically week after week.

Which is just one reason why the current state and direction of the European Tour is so intriguing. There’s a lot going on at Wentworth these days, courtesy of Keith Pelley, the new chief executive. Most important amidst the relatively   trivial changes to membership requirements, the make-up of the so-called “Finals Series”, the clash between the Bridgestone Invitational and French Open, Rory’s playing schedule, Sergio’s pouting and Ian Poulter’s lack of form is actually the proposed merger with the Asian Tour. That prospect has the potential to provoke huge change in what has for too long been the accepted norm. Pelley clearly shares that view.Pelley

Last week in Dubai, the colourful Canadian – well, his glasses anyway – talked of the new global circuit providing a “viable alternative to the PGA Tour” within the next three to five years.

“We need to be too important to be dismissed from our sponsors, from our stakeholders, from our players,” he said. “And that means we are going to have to increase our prize purses so that players don’t necessarily need to go to America to be able to make as much money as they possibly can.”

That is an ambitious target, but one that is at least worth aiming for. After lapsing into a state best described as somnambulant over the last decade or so, the European Tour suddenly seems to be alive and vibrant.

The time frame proposed by Pelley is understandable. If the new chief is as astute as he appears – and the smart money says that he is – then he knows that tempting the current generation of stars out of their Florida mansions and those awful gated communities so beloved by Uncle Sam’s more affluent nieces and nephews is something of a lost cause. The likes of Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Justin Rose are not coming home to stay. Nor are Scots Russell Knox and Martin Laird. Both, like Donald and Casey, went to college in the States and decided to settle there after their graduation.

No, Pelley’s targets are surely (mostly) younger men like Eddie Pepperell, Andy Sullivan, Danny Willett, Bernd Wiesberger, Victor Dubuisson, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Martin Kaymer, Tommy Fleetwood and Marc Warren. Throw in the next generation of stars – guys currently in their mid-teens – and Asian luminaries like Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Anirban Lahiri and Pelley will have something tangible and attractive to sell to the sort of blue-chip sponsors he will need to make the Euro/Asian Tour a financially viable substitute to PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem’s multi-million dollar boondoggle.

Travelling almost everywhere on the planet other than the US also gives Pelley a gilt-edged opportunity to present a real variety of courses and challenges to his members. A month-long “links season”, starting after the US Open and climaxing with The Open Championship in the middle of every Northern Hemisphere summer, has an obvious attraction.

Building such a run around the Dutch Open, Irish Open and Scottish Open also has the added benefit of highlighting national titles – South Africa would be another – that are surely more enticing to players and public than, say, “The CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation” or the “Zurich Classic of New Orleans.” These are not titles around which impressive and historic curriculum vitaes are built.

Anyway, throw in a month in Australia playing the likes of Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath and New South Wales right after the traditional Middle East swing that takes in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai and the new-look European Tour could surely be the place to be until the world’s best head for Florida in the build-up to the Masters.

Seeing professionals – who are more business entities than golfers – playing in events just because of the superior quality of the course has, sadly, all-but disappeared from the modern game.

With agents whispering large sums of cash in their ears this is perhaps understandable. But still. For those with a bit of genuine feeling for the game that has made them rich beyond imagination, teeing up on the world’s best courses rather than yet another tedious track in the States might just make a difference.

In that regard, it was particularly encouraging to hear the Masters and US Open champion, Jordan Spieth, talk recently of his eagerness to play Melbourne’s Sandbelt courses when he is in Australia to defend his Open title. “Build it and I will come” seems to be his motto.

“I’ve heard Kingston Heath is unbelievable,” said the 22-year old Texan. “And then Royal Melbourne. I hear you get on the first tee there and think, ‘piece of cake’ and then watch your tee-shot bounce in the air. Those courses are definitely on my bucket list. A style of golf that is so unique to the area, that’s what I’m looking for.”

So there is much to look forward to and much potential to be tapped over the next few years. That “viable alternative” to the PGA Tour Pelley wants to provide “for our elite, medium and low-ranked players” is possible. But it’s going to take time. Patience folks.

Tagged European Tour, Keith Pelley