European Tour 2018

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Davy Jones had ambitions to be a jockey, was apprenticed to a Newmarket trainer!

2 more 62's and lw1 will be back inside the top 50. Hope he doesn't post 2 x 72's instead, but good that there's life in the old dog yet.

Second win for Sharma Shanker. Not bad for a guy with that name.

pedro wrote:Second win for Sharma Shanker. Not bad for a guy with that name.

John Huggan pointed out on twitter that there are more Indians (5) in the OWGR 200 than Scots (4).  

Incidentally, two Indians are ranked higher than the highest Scot.

GPB wrote:Are you people across the pond familiar with the USA TV show "The Monkees" (about 50 years ago)

If so, you might enjoy this play on their theme song.

HERE HE COMES
WALKING DOWN THE STREET
Shooting Sixty-Two in MALAYSIA
He's the ONE to BEAT

Hey, hey, He's LEE WESTWOOD
Some say he can't golf Anymore
But he is too busy playing
Down in Kuala Lumpur

He goes to Indonesia
Getting Paid to Play
He doesn't have to retire
To Asia, he will find a way

HERE HE COMES
WALKING DOWN THE STREET
Shooting Sixty-Two in MALAYSIA
He's the ONE to BEAT

Ha. Very good. Remember the Monkees quite well.

Open de Espana returns to the European Tour the week following The Masters. Crappy prize fund but got to be very good news.

Nice work by Keith Pelley to give Qatar a cr@ppy date on the schedule.

Qatar has a OWGR SoF 56. If not for the minimum subsidy, Qatar would be rated at OWGR-18.

Qatar is a tournament that has been around since 1998. and it used to be one of the better tournaments (OWGR wise) on the ET schedule. Now it is like the King Hassan II Morocco tournament.

Past winners include Garcia, Els, Scott, Bjorn, Lawrie.

Also found it strange they split the desert swing in two. Qatar must be suffering from that. Anyways, as things turned out there are currently no flights btw Qatar and the UAE so it probably wouldn’t have mattered that much anyway.

GPB wrote:
Qatar has a OWGR SoF 56.  If not for the minimum subsidy, Qatar would be rated at OWGR-18.

So the winner gets 24 instead of 18. How many sof points has it been subsidized?

Scrap the minimums! Or at least reduce them.
And deliver a WGC to Europe.

PS: The European Tour is effectively subsidising the PGA Tour this week with 6 of the 8 highest-ranked golfers all Europeans.

As you know I have been very critical of the subsidy the PGA at Wentworth has received over the years but in a rather contradictory position I am not sure I would scrap the minimums. It is a protectionist position but you would have to worry about the continued existence of some ET events if the OWGR ratings were allowed to fall off a cliff. As you say a reduction might be the most appropriate action.

Or would no minimums provide the incentive for those involved in organising the events to attract better fields on merit?


Has there been any recent serious chat about a WGC coming to Europe?

If you want to call them WGS's and not just GC's then it makes sense to spread them about and not just have them in USA, Mexico and China. Then again, America has previous for calling things "World" when they are anything but.

The thing with the WGC's (and Majors obviously as well) is that it affects the European Tour for three weeks with guys not surprisingly beefing up the US fields the week before and the week after, and cannibalising the ET fields - though no clue why Pelley thought staging Qatar after Oman instead of before it was good strategy.

Haven't heard any suggestion that a European WGC is any closer now than it was five years ago.

Jesus Christ, Terminal nobody Oliver Fisher is leading a tournament. He's the British Jeff Overton.

kwinigolfer wrote:Scrap the minimums! Or at least reduce them.
And deliver a WGC to Europe.

PS: The European Tour is effectively subsidising the PGA Tour this week with 6 of the 8 highest-ranked golfers all Europeans.

They are PGATour members too. They get more than they give.

McLaren wrote:

GPB wrote:
Qatar has a OWGR SoF 56.  If not for the minimum subsidy, Qatar would be rated at OWGR-18.

So the winner gets 24 instead of 18.  How many sof points has it been subsidized?

The SoF for Qatar is 54, meaning it would actually been rated OWGR-17, and not 18 as I previously posted.

It would have needed to have SOF 91 to meet the Euro Tour minimum of OWGR-24

GPB wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Scrap the minimums! Or at least reduce them.
And deliver a WGC to Europe.

PS: The European Tour is effectively subsidising the PGA Tour this week with 6 of the 8 highest-ranked golfers all Europeans.

They are PGATour members too.  They get more than they give.

All a bit chicken and egg, don't you think?
The hay-day of European success in world golf hardly depended upon anything the boys got from PGA Tour membership, not convinced that today's generation needs it either.

Although the journeyman Europeans (and other internationals) certainly get more, but good for them, they've paid their dues. Just as Americans prospering in Europe have done.

"...not convinced that today's generation needs it either...."

What is the purse in Qatar compared to Honda?

GPB wrote:"...not convinced that today's generation needs it either...."

What is the purse in Qatar compared to Honda?

That's my point; why put Qatar up against Honda?


But, guess what, 90% of PGA Tour events have higher purses than European equivalents - so it's more about maximising what you have.

GPB wrote:What is the purse in Qatar compared to Honda?

I heard the commentators say the winner got $290,000. Purse was $1,750,000

Purse? It's not boxing.

Prize fund then

& that's it. No comment about the actual tournament or the winner? Nothing on last week as far as I can see either. Thought there might have been something after the rise, fall and rise again of Mr Peperell. The guy has had a few challenges so it will be interesting to read his next blog about the success means to him after 120 odd attempts.

Nick,
Is your mate Mr Wood getting back to proper fitness?

Think so Kwini. After a lacklustre start to this year (& end to last year) he seems to be firing on 3 out of 4 cylinders now. Second last week and T13 this week so an improvement. He is back with his old coach that he had as a youngster and also probably getting used to parenthood a bit more now.....

Good to hear, probably the only one of the English debutants who played well at Hazeltine; it would be good to have him back to his best.

Nice win in SA for Rhys Enoch - is he going on to a good career? Who was better: Rhys or his brother??

GPB wrote:Nice work by Keith Pelley to give Qatar a cr@ppy date on the schedule.

Qatar has a OWGR SoF 56.  If not for the minimum subsidy, Qatar would be rated at OWGR-18.

Qatar is a tournament that has been around since 1998.  and it used to be one of the better tournaments (OWGR wise) on the ET schedule.  Now it is like the King Hassan II Morocco tournament.

Past winners include Garcia, Els, Scott, Bjorn, Lawrie.

Qatar tournament has always had the feel of a monthly medal. No spectators, no atmosphere. They are very good at buying sporting events.

kwinigolfer wrote:
Haven't heard any suggestion that a European WGC is any closer now than it was five years ago.

What's all this about Welwyn Garden City? Not sure it's ready to host a tour event.

What happened to the Spanish WGC? I remember one in Sevilla in about 2005? And of course the Grove hosted a WGC in 2006, wasn't there something in Ireland too in the same decade?

I think Els won a WGC in Ireland early 00’s? Mount Juliet perhaps?

pedro wrote:I think Els won a WGC in Ireland early 00’s? Mount Juliet perhaps?

Yup, Tiger also beat The Mechanic at Valderama, in a play-off I think, right at the inception of WGC's. Mike Weir won there the following year.

Rory wants the EuroT to switch the dates of the Irish and Scottish Opens in 2019. And if they do, the Scottish Open might get Rory to play a few times.

Wink wink nudge nudge

https://twitter.com/GolfWorld1/status/968218276898725888

Would make sense in 2019 with the Open at Portrush. Otherwise that's just McIlroy's ego at play. They don't build their schedule around you, just because you won't play the week before a major unless it's your home event.

I agree Ned. From a logistics pov it makes sense. But throwing the Scottish Open in the pot like that seems a bit arrogant. Like a child who promises to clean his room if his mother gives him candy first.

It wasn't too long ago (2016) that the date two weeks before the Open Championship was sacrosanct. For the FRENCH OPEN

Keith Pelley got his knickers in a knot when Finchem scheduled B-Stone on that date.

You’d assume a bumper field for the French this year too with people getting their eye in at Golf National. Would imagine Pelley is eyeing up a month of Euro-heavy golf from there through to the Open.

I assume Rory’s argument is that the Irish should be more prominent given the recent success of Irish golf. Two problems with that: firstly the Irish boom is arguably past its peak, with Padraig, Clarke and McDowell all in decline. Secondly it’s in Pelley’s best interests to spread his stronger fields across as many events as possible, rather than overload a single tournament. Better to have Rory, Lowry and co turn up one week in Ireland, and Phil, Dustin and whoever the next week in Scotland, than for them all to descend en masse at the same time.

George Coetzee wins the Tshwane Open. Danny Willett made the cut and came in at 5 under par.

2nd place for Sam Horsfield, just a few weeks younger than Sharma - plenty of time to catch Shanker up.
Good result for Connor Syme also.

Grillo playing India this week, strange choice with qualification for the Matchplay on the line

kwinigolfer wrote:2nd place for Sam Horsfield, just a few weeks younger than Sharma - plenty of time to catch Shanker up.
Good result for Connor Syme also.

Surprisingly parsimonious money for Syme, T11 got him just 17k Euro, need a lot more of them to keep his card, and with not getting into every tournament due to his ranking its going to be tough. Encouraging though.

This course in India is completely mental.

princedrac reckons Grillo needs at least a share of 2nd in India to qualify for the MatchPlay. Looks like he'll take a lead into Round 2 - if there was a plan (other than appearance fee) to account for his trip to Asia, it's working so far.

NedB-H wrote:This course in India is completely mental.

It may be mental to play but it looks stunning and makes Augusta look quite ordinary. And I’ve just heard on the commentary that three years ago the site was completely flat. Everything there, including the almost mountainous hills, has been constructed. A great piece of engineering and design by Gary Player.

Wonderful round from Shanker.

LadyPutt wrote:

NedB-H wrote:This course in India is completely mental.

It may be mental to play but it looks stunning and makes Augusta look quite ordinary. And I’ve just heard on the commentary that three years ago the site was completely flat. Everything there, including the almost mountainous hills, has been constructed. A great piece of engineering and design by Gary Player.

This golf course is attractive in the way that Katie Price is attractive. Fake mounds and artificial colouring and extensions

Similarly you'd have to have a little go on it, given the opportunity!

BlueCoverman wrote:Similarly you'd have to have a little go on it, given the opportunity!

Yes I would admire the immaculately conditioned fairways and rough, and then make sure I played all the holes, in particular the more challenging ones.

There’s a lot of uphill lies, so 69 would be a good score.

Great to see the "European" swing of the European Tour underway; Jon Rahm continuing pretty much where he left off at Augusta: 67.

Shame that Paul Dunne didn't make it in to the Harbour Town field, but great that he's taking his good form to Espana and playing well.

If there's to be a real up-and-comer dark horse to make this year's Ryder Cup team, Dunners could be it.

Just heard Rahm on Sky say “ I don’t want to be here”. Really? Can’t believe this man’s petulance!