Paul McGinley launches passionate defence of “strategic alliance”

Paul McGinley hit back at critics of the DP World Tour’s partnership with the PGA Tour, admitting it “hurts” to see the deal slated.

The former Ryder Cup captain, a member of the tour’s board, has seen the circuit come in for heavy criticism for the “strategic alliance”, which was announced in 2021 and extended this year.

A particular barb is that the European circuit is now a “feeder tour” for its wealthier American counterpart.

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Lee Westwood, who joined LIV Golf earlier this year, has been vocal in his criticism and claimed there has “not been much give” from the PGA Tour.

However, McGinley disputes those claims and insisted the two tours are working together.

Speaking to the Times, he shot down allegations the PGA Tour now has too much power over the elite game in Europe.

“The comparison back to the good old days of Seve [Ballesteros] and [Bernhard] Langer is very unfair because the dynamics of golf have changed and the European market is totally dwarfed by the American market,” he said.

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“Playing schedules have changed and we are working with cards that have been played with us.

“There are some very clever business people on that board — I don’t mean me — and to be dismissed so easily as making stupid decisions is disrespectful. It’s not deserving and it hurts.”