Deserting the Euro Tour

Kaymer today announced as the latest member of the Euro tour to take a full membership on the PGA Tour.

Along with Colsaerts and Hanson who have joined this year as well it leaves just 2 of the top 30 (Lawrie and F Molinari) as non members of the PGA tour.

Is this the start of the slow death of the Euro tour as all the top players abandon it for the riches of America or can the Euro tour survive without the guarantee of the big names players appearing week in week out?

I personally see it as a shame that the top Europeans don't play as much as they could this side of the pond but then I can understand that golfers have to be selfish and have family to think about as well.

Will the sponsors hang around knowing Rory,Donald,Westwood et al won't be there every week? Most golf fans like to watch the worlds best compete head to head and this simply won't be happening enough next year on the Euro tour which is a major worry to the sustainability of the tour under its current model.

Thoughts ?

It is interesting that for all the increased European success in terms of major wins and positions in the OWGR's the European tour has not had a similar upturn in success.

Lets look at how many events the top Europeans have played on the european tour this season. (Acutual number - (majors+wgc's))

Rory 10
Rose 8
louis 11
Poulter 10
Donald 8
Gmac 11
Westwood 11


It is not just how man regular european tour events they play but when they play in them. From the Masters through to the US open the European tour is left with a run of very poor events barely scraping 30 points. There will come a time when a very clear split arises where we have a two tiers of events on the European tour. Events where the double dippers play and ones where they do not. The double dippers will only play for Monet or points. Eventually I see them all playing roughly the same 8-10 events plus a couple of other random events where an appearance fee is involved.

McLaren wrote:...The double dippers will only play for Monet or points. Eventually I see them all playing roughly the same 8-10 events plus a couple of other random events where an appearance fee is involved.

Interesting. I never had them down as that cultural but I suppose they might view a prize like that as an investment/tax dodge.

Seriously though, I suspect it's a given that the ET is dying, especially in, you know, Europe. The traitors will only play the big events and/or rich events in such European destinations as China and the Middle East. Eventually we'll have a 'World' tour which'll be based almost exclusively in the U.S.

I think it's really unfortunate that just at the very time when European golf is at it's strongest (in terms of strength in depth of European players) that the European economies are in such dire straights, effectively making lucrative sponsorship very difficult to come by. Yes the PGA tour suffered a big in that respect but you can't help thinking that the US economy (and consequently PGA Tour sponsorship) will recover a lot quicker.

Having said that, the European Tour has come a long way but it is now at a crossroads, indeed golf is now at a crossroads...Personally I think the way forward is a unified World Tour (which to be honest is what most of the double dippers do anyway) with the current PGA Tour and European Tours as supporting acts. Maybe that is achievable through a gradual expansion in the number of WGC events. The Majors are already predominantly U.S. based affairs, for the good of the game a world tour should be embraced and give a geographical spread of events. It would have to give a nod to sponsorship so expect a higher proportion of U.S. and Far East based events but a global tour would attract global brands into sponsorship.

Im not sure much has changed. The Eurpean Tour has always been very much the second division, it just happened to have a couple of halcyon years where a few of its top dogs preferred to play it, helped out by a lot of Asian and Arab dosh.
Id prefer a world tour but I suspect things are more likely to carry on as they are, the PGA has no real reason to change anything and if it decided to incorporate the European Tour it would only do so on its own terms.
Im quite happy for most decent golf to be played in time zones that mean I can watch it live in the evening, if its played in Europe Ill be watching highlights, or rather I probably wont bother to watch anything.

If we are saying this comes down to relative strength in the economies of the US and UK (and Europe) can we blame Cameron/Osbourne for killing the European tour with their crack pot economic policy?


Diggers

I could be wrong but I think the players fighting for the European OOM used to play a full schedule on the European tour. Although maybe prince/kwini can confirm this change?

McLaren wrote:

I could be wrong but I think the players fighting for the European OOM used to play a full schedule on the European tour. Although maybe prince/kwini can confirm this change?

i was thinking about this too Mac. I think the evolution of WGCs and other co sanctioned events has made it possible for double dippers to win the Euro OOM. also the fact that European players have done better in the the majors in the last few years has helped contribute to OOM success even though they dont have much of a presence. Brandon Grace for instance, won a rake of times on the European Tour yet Rory winning a major and placing highy in some WGCs topples him comfortabley

McLaren wrote:If we are saying this comes down to relative strength in the economies of the US and UK (and Europe) can we blame Cameron/Osbourne for killing the European tour with their crack pot economic policy?


Diggers

I could be wrong but I think the players fighting for the European OOM used to play a full schedule on the European tour. Although maybe prince/kwini can confirm this change?

No Mac, the seeds of the current crisis were sown and came to fruition quite some time before those 2 loons got anywhere near the levers of power. The crisis was/is a global one caused by a complete inability/unwillingness of a whole collection of governments (left and right) to deal with a runaway credit bubble.

JAS wrote:

McLaren wrote:If we are saying this comes down to relative strength in the economies of the US and UK (and Europe) can we blame Cameron/Osbourne for killing the European tour with their crack pot economic policy?


Diggers

I could be wrong but I think the players fighting for the European OOM used to play a full schedule on the European tour. Although maybe prince/kwini can confirm this change?

No Mac, the seeds of the current crisis were sown and came to fruition quite some time before those 2 loons got anywhere near the levers of power. The crisis was/is a global one caused by a complete inability/unwillingness of a whole collection of governments (left and right) to deal with a runaway credit bubble.

Not helped by the fact that the world banks seem to be utterly morally bankrupt.

Yep... The banks created the said credit bubble which they must have known was unsustainable and governments chose to ignore it or shied away from trying to regulate.

A bit ironic that the banks seem to be the more solid of the sponsorships on the Tours (Barclays, HSBC)

Don't get Mac started on morality, we could be in for an utterly turgid time :-/

The demise of the European tour is an interesting topic so I wont drag this OT, other than to say Cameron/osbourne did everything you shouldn't when reacting to a recession.



I dont see how a world tour could ever happen as there is no reason for finchem or the PGAT players to change what they have. The euro tour is basically a world tour - given the locations it covers - but that does not seem to be providing it with any increase in strength. By strength I mean more OWGR points, more money or more appearances from top ten players which would ultimately mean more sponsorship money.

Surprised at Kaymer. Didn't his last tilt at 'the american game' result in a catastrophic drop in form?

Actually you are right to a point, the European Tour is effectively a world Tour excluding the Americas and I suppose that it is the lucrative Midfle East and Far East Tournaments that are allowing it to keep pace and not fall any further behind the PGA Tour.

However I think sponsorship and player power will shape the future of tours and not a jumped up arrogant @r5e like Finchem. As a result changes are likely to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

The biggest problem against the evolution of a world tour is the insularity and unwillingness to travel outwith their own borders of many of the top Americans.

Jas Im not sure thats totally fair. Ultimately it would be largely pointless for a lot of Americans to travel beyond their own shores, they have a perfectly good product on their doorstep and most of them need to play as many events as possible to keep their cards to carry on playing it.
If the European Tour cant make it appealing for Americans to come and play their tour then the fault lies entirely with them.

This is a non-Ryder Cup year. (2013).

So surely this is the time for the Euro pros to test out the US.

I would say the new PGA Tour qualifying system has a lot to do with all of this, especially those going the Q-School route next week - Gonzo, Noren, C-Bello, Wattel and a couple of Fishers.
Lynn and Colsaerts, in particular, might never get anther straight shot at the PGA Tour.
Hanson and Kaymer both already have homes here, though the big surprise with Kaymer is that he didn't go this route two years ago.

Mac - You are entirely correct. The US PGA tour has been built by lining up and getting sponsors, tapping into markets that are eager to host events, securing TV contracts that spew money, offering excellent purses, and have ground logistics that are second to none ... thus attracting the best players in the world.

JAS - For the American players, if you can get all of the above without having to leave your friends and family for extended periods why would you? I travel a fair amount for work and it's not fun, especially with an active family at home.

So, as the US tour eventually reaches its tipping point, and a world tour develops (which it will), I wonder how a frequent dose of "tape delayed" events will impact US TV revenue? That, I assure you, is a concern to the US Tour.

Which is why a "world tour" will be "world" in name only, the global galacticos travelling everywhere (and I for one loved that travelling!), most leading North Americans doing appearance fee cameos only, and the PGA Tour going along its merry way.
Don't actually feel there's anything wrong with that.

Shotrock wrote:Mac - You are entirely correct. The US PGA tour has been built by lining up and getting sponsors, tapping into markets that are eager to host events, securing TV contracts that spew money, offering excellent purses, and have ground logistics that are second to none ... thus attracting the best players in the world.

JAS - For the American players, if you can get all of the above without having to leave your friends and family for extended periods why would you? I travel a fair amount for work and it's not fun, especially with an active family at home.

So, as the US tour eventually reaches its tipping point, and a world tour develops (which it will), I wonder how a frequent does of "tape delayed" events will impact US TV revenue? That, I assure you, is a concern to the US Tour.

Interesting insight SR, here's me on the one hand observing the supposed insularity of the American players, the not considering the impact on American TV audiences of tournaments played in radically different time zones...doh!!. Mind you we in the UK are used to that now

I get the point about travel too. Mind you for those on the Eastern seaboard there's probably not that much difference between Western Europe and California but obviously if the purses are much bigger stateside then it's a no brainer

JAS - I'm not saying there isn't a fair amount of insular US PGA players (as proven by Bubba Watson!) ... but the primary driver for a professional golfer is to make the best living by and large.

Shotrock wrote:JAS - I'm not saying there isn't a fair amount of insular US PGA players (as proven by Bubba Watson!) ... but the primary driver for a professional golfer is to make the best living by and large.

Indeed, can't disagree with that, although Bubba wouldn't have been my first choice as who I consider insular, at least he tried some Euro events, ok he didn't like it and got homesick but at least he tried it. There are many on the PGA tour who won't even come across for the Open