Euro stars strike it rich as Tour balloons to £130m
Imagine telling the professionals who competed in the first european Tour event held in Spain in mid-april 1972 that, 40 years later, their successors would mark the anniversary in China, of all places?
Picture following up with the revelation that total prize money would rise from the £443,450 they were playing for to £130million for the 2012 season.
no wonder, therefore, the landmark occasion is being celebrated with gusto at the tour’s Wentworth headquarters.
Those raised in these isles might lament the one thing that has dramatically declined during the period, the number of tournaments in england, from nine to just one. But it would be churlish to dwell on that sad development when placed against the enormous progress made elsewhere.
To think, it took more than 20 years for the disgruntled pros of the age to force the British Pga to agree to a tournament players’ division, with visionary pro John Jacobs appointed the first chief executive. They were fed up only a handful of tournament pros could make any money.
now the european Tour brand is recognised wherever the sport is played, and the top 115 who kept their cards last year all made at least £250,000, with Order of merit winner Luke Donald taking home £5.3m.
at the grand age of 87, Jacobs reflects: ‘I couldn’t have imagined the tour would go on to be played as far afield but thank god it has.
‘We’ve now got the lovely situation where the US tour has america and the european Tour has almost the rest of the world, making it an even playing field.
‘now it’s still the european Tour whether you’re in the middle east, australia, or wherever the hell you’re playing.’
There have been only three Ceos, with Jacobs succeeded by Ken Schofield, who masterminded the plan to take the tour to the world, followed by the incumbent george O’grady, who has built on his blueprint.
Changing the name of the tour to something reflecting its global reach is a refrain Schofield and O’grady have heard often in turn, but the truth is the world, in this instance, likes coming under the european umbrella. It enjoys what the european Tour stands for.
There will be plenty of challenges over the next few years, most notably in keeping its european heartland strong. The evidence of the past 40 years suggests the tour is well placed to meet them.
NEW Masters champion Bubba Watson believes the best recovery shot he has ever played was not on the second hole of the sudden-death play-off at Augusta but on the 16th hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year. By happy circumstance, I happened to witness it. Two hundred yards to go from the trees over water to the green? To this supposedly trained eye, there seemed no route forward and yet Bubba hit it to 15 feet. My abiding memory, though, was the reaction of the fellow standing next to me. One minute of Bubba magic turned him from a gentle-looking soul into a dervish. ‘Holy Cow!’ he screamed.