Open prize could be paid in US dollars as pound continues to tumble
YOU can blame Brexit on everything, from the tumbling value of the pound to the fact that you can’t remember where you put your spectacles. Look, there they are, on your head. Bloomin’ Brexit. For organisers of the Open Championship, the knock-on effect of the UK’s retreat from the European Union continues to create uncertainty on the prize money front. The purse has developed considerably since a £10 fund was first introduced at the Open in 1863 and last year’s championship was worth £6.5 million. Across the pond, the Royal & Ancient’s American counterparts, the USGA, recently announced that this season’s US Open would boast record prize money of $12 million. Using the present rates, the Open is worth around $8 million and Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, is well aware of the financial pressures. “It’s a significant issue,” he said. “We’ve gone from $1.50 to $1.25 (value of pound). I’m very conscious that the Open is the only major outside the US and I’m very conscious of making sure that it’s viewed as one of the world’s great sporting events. I’d hate to see the Open not have prize money at the top end and an option, clearly, is to move to (paying) US dollars.”
Talking of paying out, Slumbers has made it clear that bookmakers would continue to be absent in the grounds of the Open Championship. “People can do it with their online accounts but we just don’t want to have it inside the ropes,” he said. “There’s a danger in all sport of inappropriate betting. I’d hate to see crowds getting overly involved in their enthusiasm for a particular player or hole or shot because of their betting. For the first time, in 2016, we actually became part of a sports monitoring service that was looking at all betting going on at the Open and any potential dangers, and there weren’t any.”
On the playing front, meanwhile, the R&A’s crusade to speed up the game will see the Ready Golf policy adopted in the strokeplay sections of their various amateur championships throughout the season. Instead of sticking to the time honoured ‘farthest from the hole plays first’ doctrine, Ready Golf attempts to cut down on ploddings by allowing players to play when ready. Having collated the findings of the Time for Golf seminar in 2015, the R&A issued a manual of recommendations aimed at improving pace of play and Ready Golf was very much to the fore. “It’s part of our bit to help with setting an example,” said Slumbers. “We’ve been talking about it (pace of play) extensively over the last 12 months.”
With the European Tour trialling the World Super 6 event last weekend, and the Golf Sixes tournament now added to the schedule, Slumbers expressed an enthusiasm for golf to try new things. While the R&A’s Brazil Nut Cup stableford won’t be featuring fireworks or piped in razzmatazz anytime soon, Slumbers has welcomed innovation. “Getting it slightly different and getting people talking about it is important,” he said. “For everyone who loves golf, the blue riband way of doing it is 72-hole strokeplay but some variety in there is exciting. Keith (Pelley, chief executive of the European Tour) has a view about being in the content and entertainment business. We all have our part to play.”