Monday, November 26th, 2012   By Michael McEwan

Comments ( 0 )

Tough job: George O'Grady, the chief executive of the European Tour, has his work cut out

European Tour chief executive George O'Grady has admitted he is 'concerned' about the defection of so many of the European Tour's top golfers to the PGA Tour - and so he should be.

Of the 12 players who won the Ryder Cup for Europe in September, only two - Paul Lawrie and Francesco Molinari - look likely to compete full-time on this side of the Atlantic next season.

Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell are all flourishing on the PGA Tour, whilst Nicolas Colsaerts, Peter Hanson and Martin Kaymer have indicated that they will be mostly plying their trade in Uncle Sam's backyard next season. Even Lee Westwood, for so long a loyal bastion of the European Tour, is upping sticks and re-locating his family from Worksop to Florida.

These players will all be in good company, too, as many of Europe's leading golfers have migrated over the last decade to America, enticed by the more lucrative prizes the PGA Tour has to offer.

This 'talent drain', as Luke Donald has called it, is a serious issue on many levels for O'Grady and his team at the tour's Virginia Water HQ.

After all, you need your biggest assets in order to protect two of your main revenue streams - sponsorship and attendances.

The weaker the field, the poorer the turnout. The poorer the turnout, the lower the incentive for deep-pocketed companies to lend their backing. The lower the incentive for deep-pocketed companies to lend their backing, the smaller the prize fund. The smaller the prize fund, the weaker the field. It's the ultimate Catch-22.

So, what's the solution? From the tour's point of view, maximising their profits in rich, developing golf nations looks like the safest bet, in the short-term at least, hence the introduction of the new 'Final Series' climax to season.

The tournaments in the likes of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and so on typically attract the game's top players because they are bankrolled by outrageous wealthy benefactors, who can afford to make losses on golf tournaments for a good few years without feeling the pinch.

The same, sadly, is not true of many governments or companies in Continental Europe, which could, ultimately, lead to fewer European Tour events in this part of the world. That's worrying.

Just under two years ago, I had a long chat with George O'Grady in which he assured me that the UK and Europe remained the tour's 'bedrock'. But he added: "He who pays the piper calls the tune." He was under no illusion that, in these troubling times, the tour had to balance its obligations to its roots with its obligations to make money.

It's a delicate situation but perhaps some indication into what the future may hold is that more events took place outwith Europe than within it on the European Tour this season.

I expect major changes to the circuit within the next five years. Perhaps a merger with the OneAsia Golf Tour to maximise growth and profit in that part of the world; perhaps a sale of naming rights to the Challenge or Senior Tours; perhaps even a re-naming of the tour itself. After all, there's not much 'European' about it these days, is there?

Comments:

Leave a Reply

Name:

Email:
(Your email will not be publicly displayed.)

Please type the letters and numbers shown in the image.