BIG SUPPORT FOR EUROPEAN TOUR

A healthy European Tour is good for the game. It takes golf to more countries around the globe than any other tour, and gives emerging talents another place to ply their trade at the top level. But the PGA Tour has become the dominant circuit.

The fact Henrik Stenson (top) won the 2016 Race to Dubai and Rory Mcilroy, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen (below) all finished inside the top 10 by playing no more than 16 events is an impressive achievement, but it highlights a problem. The game’s elite simply aren’t playing enough European Tour events. When you take the fact that three of the majors and all four of last year’s WGC events were in America into account, it paints a bleak image for ‘our tour’.

It’s about time the high profile European and International players – many of whom owe the start of their lucrative careers to the European Tour – stepped up and started really supporting it rather than just playing the bare minimum of events. The inflated purses of the Rolex Series events should attract more top 50 players; but it would be nice to think our heroes, who have earned more money from the game than they’ll ever spend, might opt to play more in front of their home fans for more than just financial gain.