Should the PGA Tour Acquire the European Tour?
Recently, European Tour star Paul Casey made comments about his "home" tour that raised a few eyebrows. According to Casey, the Tour is a far cry from the glitz and glam (and tournament purses) of their United States counterparts despite having a solid roster of world class players.
"I agree with those people who think we have an unbelievable product, but we are so far from maximizing what we have, and we need to freshen things up," Casey told reporters earlier in the week. "It needs some new energy. This is the time for change as it's a great opportunity we're missing."
Those comments apparently reached the ears of both Euro Tour chief executive George O'Grady and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem shortly after, prompting Finchem to declare that he had no plans to "acquire" the European Tour.
"Certain news reports have indicated that the PGA Tour has made an offer to acquire the European Tour," Finchem said in a statement. "Those reports are inaccurate.
"However, as I have stated publicly on several occasions, the integration of professional golf can create additional value for our players, sponsors and fans."
In other words, Finchem is basically stating that he had nothing to do with the rumors, but he wasn't totally against the idea they presented. You know, if you read between the lines.
All this talk certainly raises an interesting question: Should the PGA Tour actively seek to buy-out the European Tour?
On one hand, the benefits would be substantial. Sponsorship opportunities for some of the "smaller" Euro Tour events may increase once investors realize the tour is under new leadership. From a business standpoint, seeing an influx of early adopters to any change is fairly common. That could mean more dollars for European tournaments, which could also equate to more spectator attendance.
Second, we would be inching ever so closer to what I think is a phenomenal idea: a World Tour. Greg Norman and Rupert Murdoch pitched this idea almost 20 years ago to Finchem, who declined the notion with extreme prejudice. Norman and Finchem still haven't made nice since that time, but the idea of having the entire world's best players -- not just those able to compete on the PGA or Euro Tour -- is a notion that I'll support.
Lastly, if the idea of a World Tour is unappealing, PGA and Euro players may have an easier time flip-flopping from one tour to the next. I don't necessarily see that as being a bad thing. Remember when Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood chose to play primarily on the Euro side, thus forsaking their PGA Tour brethren? That wouldn't have to happen should both tours be under the same ownership.
Seve's Son Makes Tour Debut Next Season
It's in the genes.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, Seve Ballestero's son Javier is preparing to play in next season's Majorca Open on the European Tour, although as an amateur. The event is set to take place next May and was originally reported in a Marca newspaper.
The 21 year-old Ballesteros has been receiving quite a bit of buzz lately for his golf game and its unmistakable resembleance to his father's. According to OWGR #1 Luke Donald - who had the pleasure of playing with the young man recently in the Madrid Masters - the resemblance is uncanny.
"I was very impressed with Javier, he is so like his father. I guess the genes have been passed down." Donald told reporters two weeks ago.
Javier has been working with a new golf teacher since the passing of his father.
"My father was always my coach," said Javier. "Now this is not possible any more Angel Matallana from Pedrena is helping me with my swing at Club Santander."
The one-handicapper has also expressed his wishes to eventually turn pro after completing his law degree studies.
Amateurs' Drive to Professional Status Can Be Costly
But can this same drive cause amateur golfers to forget why the started playing the game in the first place?
According to the Scotsman's Martin Dempster, the answer could be a resounding "Yes". As Dempster writes in a recent article on the subject, he details a conversation had with US Walker Cup captain Jim Holtgrieve on his decision to turn pro after a few years on the amateur circuit.
"I went to play only for money and forgot about having fun," [Holtgrieve] said in one of his press conferences in Aberdeen.
On both the PGA and European golf tours, amateurs looking to "strike it rich" on a professional level have a long and sometimes winding road ahead. Qualifying school, the Nationwide Tour, and other mini-tours offer golfers the chance at playing their way into "the big leagues"; however, the costs associated with this journey can be rather pricey, even for those players with fatter wallets.
For example, the European Qualifying School welcomed some 800 entrants into stage one this past year, each of whom poneying up £1,350 to compete. For the stage one competitors, 14 rounds stand between them and the 30 cards that will ultimately be awarded when the dust has settled and play has finished.
On the PGA TOUR side, Q-School isn't any cheaper. Rough estimates suggest that the total cost of this process can range anywhere between $3000 - $5000 when all is said and done, none of which guarentees the player's spot on TOUR.
For some, the awards are worth the price of admission. For others, the opportunity to showcase one's talents on a grand stage is equally as rewarding. For most, entry fees become mere donations due to falling short of achieving a lifelong goal. The gamble is evident, albeit necessary, in order to achieve something much greater.
INTERVIEW: European Senior Tour's John Hoskison
When I'm not toiling to throw together a blog post on CD.com or WaggleRoom, I usually spend a little time freelance writing over at Suite101.com on a variety of different subjects. Along the way I have "met" a few interesting writers at the studio, including John Hoskison - who just so happens to be a professional TOUR golfer. Recently, I had the chance to speak to John on his experience with playing on the European Senior PGA TOUR (which he is still an active participant), writing on golf, and his opinion on today's game and talent pool. Click the link below to view a few excerpts from my correspondence with John Hoskison.
From a golf instructor perspective, would you say that amateur golf skill and talent has improved over the past two decades, gotten worse, or remained roughly the same? Junior golfers definitely swing the club better than they used to. This can be traced back to the Faldo era when specific exercises were introduced to 'train' golfers. Now pros use those drills to teach ypungeters. Junior golfers enjoy these drills but older golfers tend to approach their golf in a different way and therefore find change difficult.
As a current member of the PGA European Seniors Tour, what is your opinion on Tom Watson - an American - leading the Order of Merit rankings on the European Tour? My golfing hero has always been Tom Watson. When I first saw him rip 3 irons off bare ground at Muirfield in 1980 I idolised him. As far as I'm concerned I think it's great for golf and fantasic for the European Seniors Tour that he is number one. He utterly deserves it and we are proud that he is there.
As a writer, you have published numerous articles on proper golf mechanics, game improvement, and course management. If you could pinpoint your favorite "golf tip" for amateur golfers, what would it be and why? My favourite tip and lesson I give to amateur golfers that has more immediate affect than any other is to do with the position of the head at address. The position of the head affects the way the body turns and therefore dictates swing shape. If someone tilts during the swing - angle their head to the right at address and it helps immediately
Do you feel that the current Official World Golf Rankings system is an appropriate and accurate manner to determine the best golfers in the world? Since Tiger Woods has slid down the world rankings the number one spot has been up for grabs. Personally I think it a fascinating time when a number of golfers can rightly claim top spot. Not many of the current pros have won major championships so the emphasis seems to have have slipped to consistency. Tiger definitely knocked everyone's confidence - now it's returning I expect to see the current top golfers starting to win more regularly. I think everyone would expect to see winning golfers dominating the top spots - but it was difficult to win when Tiger was there.
European Tour Logo to Honor Seve Ballesteros
(Note: The following article was originally published by the author for The Golf Writers.) Last Saturday the golfing world lost an icon as Seve Ballesteros — one of the most famous and talented professional European golfers of all time — succombed to his battle with brain cancer. While multiple professionals, organizations, and the PGA Tour have offered their own tributes to this golfing legend, the European Tour will now honor Seve by designing a new logo commemorating his career.
According to a recent article by Bernie Maguire for the Scotsman, the European Tour’s logo was already recently changed in 2009 to commemorate the life and career of another great — Harry Vardon — and to coincide with the Race to Dubai series of that season. The proposed photo that will eventually become the European Tour’s new logo is that of Seve Ballesteros pumping his fist towards the sky after winning the Open Championship at St. Andrews in 1984.
Many professionals are voicing their opinions and support for this proposed logo change, including Paul Lawrie, another former Open winner.
“I absolutely support the idea (of changing it],” the Scot told reporters yesterday. “Seve is the reason why we are playing on the European Tour, and everyone would have that opinion, so I fully agree with that. Of course, it’s not for me to tell the Tour what to do. The current logo is a nice logo and it’s been very well done.
“But everyone knows and agrees that Seve was the player that really started it all for the European Tour. He was the difference. We shouldn’t be changing the logo just because he’s gone but that’s always been the case so maybe it could have been a Seve logo from the word go.”
The original “muse” for the current European Tour logo, Harry Vardon is also commemorated by having his name attached to the Open Championship trophy, which Vardon himself won last in 1914. Supporters of the proposed change to have Seve replace Vardon’s image also suggest that Ballesteros should have been the original choice all along dating from his retirement. The obivous counter arguement is that the Vardon image depicts golfing greatness from as early a time period as possible, whereas Seve is certainly more recent. However, this argument could stretch back even further to Old Tom Morris, should one feel so inclined.
Timelines for the proposed logo change to an image of Seve remain up in the air as of the time of this writing.
