The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Pelley: Euro Tour must raise game to rival PGA
Chief executive promises bigger prize funds, action against slow play and players-first philosophy
Chief executive Keith Pelley has vowed to make the European Tour a “viable alternative” to the PGA Tour within three to five years.
Despite confirming yesterday that the Final Series would be reduced from four events to three in 2016 after the loss of the BMW Masters, Pelley has promised to increase prize funds, lead the fight against slow play and adopt a “players-first” philosophy.
That philosophy has already resulted in the number of tournaments required to maintain membership being reduced from 13 to five, excluding majors and WGC events, to make it easier for US-based players outside the world’s top 50.
Pelley wants to see the socalled “flagship” event of the tour, the BMW PGA championship at Wentworth, live up to its billing by offering more prize money than its current “unacceptable” £3.5million.
“We need to provide a viable alternative to the PGA Tour for our elite, medium and low-ranked players. End of story,” Pelley said ahead of the DP World Tour championship in Dubai.
“We need to be too important to be dismissed from our sponsors, from our stakeholders, from our players.
“And that means we are going to have to increase our prize purses.
“That won’t happen overnight. That’s not going to happen necessarily in 2016. You’ll start to see it happen in 2017. You’ll start to see it come to fruition in 2018.
“We definitely in three to five years will have a viable alternative, so that players don’t necessarily need to go to America to be able to make as much money as they possibly can.”
Asked about the future of Wentworth under its new Chinese owners, Pelley added: “A lot of people talk about Wentworth as being a flagship event. Wentworth is £3.5million.
“The other event in the US that week is £4.3million. That’s unacceptable. Wentworth needs to be £5,250,000 to £6,500,000.
“The important thing for me at Wentworth is what they do to the West Course.
“From everything I have heard, there is significant investment. We are continuing at Went worth until at least 2018 and if the West Course becomes exactly what they believe it will, and we can increase the prize purse, then perhaps it can be a flagship event going forward.
“Our flagship event right here is the DP World Tour championship, which is over £ 5million plus a bonus prize.”
Reducing the number of tournaments required for membership from 13 to five will make no real difference to players inside the world’s top 50 but could help the likes of former world number one Luke Donald, who is currently ranked 77th.
Pelley also hopes it will persuade world number 24 Paul Casey to rejoin the European Tour and therefore become eligible for next year’s Ryder Cup.
“The change recognises that many of our members are global players who, at the same time, wish to remain loyal to the European Tour,” Pelley said.
“When you are within the top 50 in the world rankings and eligible for the major championships and the World Golf Championships, that is attainable.
“But for those on the cusp, it is harder to plan.
“This change will benefit them and enable them to continue to remain in membership with us in what are extremely exciting times for the European Tour.
“At the same time it also ensures we have not changed or reduced the commitments required by our members to participate in ‘regular’ European Tour tournaments.
“We want them to play more. But we’ll want them to play more because they want to play more, not because you have to play more.”
Pelley was unable to announce any precise proposals to deal with slow play, but added: “I’ve had significant dialogue with (chief executive) Martin Slumbers from the R&A and they are in violent agreement that this is something that we need to deal with.
“When I sit here next year we will have a completely different philosophy on slow play. Slow play is a critical part of ourgame and we will address it.”
The Final Series will feature just three events in 2016, with the HSBC Champions dropping out due to its different entry criteria as a WGC event and the BMW Masters a victim of lost sponsorship.
The Nedbank Golf Challenge, currently limited to a 30-man invitational field, will replace the BMW Masters and see 72 players competing for a prize fund of £4,600,000, with the Turkish Airlines Open and DP World Tour championship completing the line-up.
Although the majors and WGC events will no longer contribute towards the membership requirement, the Ryder Cup, EurAsia Cup and Olympics will count.
The 2016 Race to Dubai consists of 45 tournaments in 25 countries and starts next week with the Alfred Dunhill championship, which is one of six events on South African soil.
The Nedbank Golf Challenge features twice, being staged from December 3 to 6, 2015, and again as part of the Final Series.
“Need viable alternative to PGA Tour for our elite, medium and low-ranked players”