The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Why is Justin Rose missing Wentworth? Tee to Green
Last year’s inaugural Rolex Series was an undoubted success for the European Tour. Enhanced prize funds at select events bolstered the fields with the presence of many star names. Flexibility even ensured we had a couple of pleasant surprises – Rory McIlroy showing up at the Scottish Open, for example.
You couldn’t expect the PGA Tour not to respond. The world of golf is still a wrestle for the presence of star quality.
And we get an indication of this in the opening Rolex Series event of the year, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The European Tour has been largely treading water since the Desert Swing in January. This is when Keith Pelley ups the ante with the first of a series of premier events across high-season.
Rory, who while a previous winner on the West Course has never hidden his dislike of it, is in the field. Ian Poulter, similarly sceptic about the charms of this part of Surrey, is present and there’s a homecoming for “dual-tour” players like Paul Casey, Alex Noren, Tommy Fleetwood, and Rafa Cabrera Bello.
But there’s no Sergio Garcia – again – who is taking a week off. There’s also, gallingly, no sign of Europe’s top two ranked players, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose.
Both of those last-named are in the field for the Forth Worth Invitational (what used to be known as the Colonial) which doesn’t even have a sponsor at present but still has a prize fund that just about matches Wentworth.
That’s not Rose’s issue, apparently. He has to fulfil the PGA Tour’s structure that to retain membership a player must play in one event he hasn’t attended over a four-year period.
Even if this new regulation by the PGA Tour policy board makes scheduling difficult for some of the top players, it still seems odd that the pre-eminent Englishman in golf at present has deemed it impossible to play in the biggest event in his country this year.
It’s an indication that even the enhanced prize funds at Rolex Series events are not as overwhelming an attraction as supposed, even in the midst of a Ryder Cup qualification campaign.
Of course, at least as far as Wentworth is concerned, it’s likely to be the last year they have this problem.
Next year the event moves – out of the way of the PGA Championship’s move to May – to a new slot in September, when it is up against nothing, the PGA Tour’s FedEx “play-offs” having finished at the start of the month.
That means not only is the event likely to get a full compliment of Europeans, there’s even the prospect of some top US names coming over.
But that’s only good news for some. One of my issues with the Rolex Series is that the main beneficiaries so far have been the mid-ranking Tour players rather than the top names.
These are the guys in that 50-100 ranking on the Race to Dubai. They’re assured of a starting spot in Rolex Series events at least before the end of season Dubai World Championship, and they’re playing for much more money than previously, with the obvious positive effect on their Race to Dubai positions even for modest finishes.
Meanwhile, young aspirants looking to establish themselves on tour find themselves largely confined to events with €1 million prize funds, and no guarantee of a run in any of the Rolex Series.
The Challenge Tour graduates seem to be getting into the first couple of Rolex events – our own Bradley Neil is playing this week and also in Italy next week, and what better opportunity for him to find his feet on the big stage,
Sadly, there’s no such guarantee for Tour School grads. Connor Syme appears unlikely to get a start either this week or in Italy.
And next year, with more star names coming in, the ones who will be squeezed are those trying to get their first foothold in the pro game.
Tour life has to be a hard school. But it seems to me the Rolex Series messes with the generational evolution. It was hard enough for a young player to establish himself on tour and there was really no need to make it even harder.
A long discussion ahead
I’m all for a proper debate on the increase in hitting distance in golf. So I should be welcoming the R&A/ USGA’s Global Distance Insights Project announced last week.
They’re canvassing all opinions over the rest of 2018 for an announcement sometime in 2019. I’m still to be convinced by either of the governing bodies’ determination to make a proper fist of this.
I suspect there’s competing voices within both organisations, and of course there’s plenty of strong voices – both the big tours, all of the manufacturers – who don’t even see an issue.
Tip-toeing about these vested interests doesn’t seem to me to be a constructive way forward.
I’d rather the governing bodies made a firm stand of their own using the evidence and technological information they have to hand, and we worked out the detail in consultation.
Which is what they’re going to have to do after we’ve had this yearlong “insight” project.
It’s just wasting time.
The main beneficiaries so far have been the mid-ranking Tour players rather than the top names