Golf News Roundup: Euro Tour Loses Stars; Tiger’s 2013 Start; Player Speaks; More

A couple of things that caught my eye recently:

The European Tour is losing many of its star players to the PGA Tour. Among those making the jump either entirely or partially: Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Nicolas Colsaerts, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell and Peter Hanson.

Fortunately for the Euro Tour, McIlroy still intends to make Europe his primary focus.

Tiger Woods will open his PGA Tour season at Torrey Pines. That’s a good move, considering his history there. As I’ve noted before, Tiger has accumulated the vast majority of his wins on just a few courses, and Torrey is one of those.

Gary Player says that its time for the R&A to have two sets of rules: one for amateurs and one for professionals.

“I would first of all realise, if I were the RA, that there are two different games and they say it’s one game.

“It isn’t because professional golf and amateur golf are as far apart as from here to Cairo. The thing is, they don’t want to recognise that.”

“If they think it’s the same game, go and tee it up and play with Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy and you’ll really get the message.

“The amateur is still the important man, not the professional golfer.

“We’ve to keep continuing with technology for the amateur, but for professional golf we’ve got to tomorrow cut the ball back 50 yards. It’s hurting golf.”

I agree, and golf’s ruling bodies—the R&A and USGA—need at some point to decide if they are going to stand on the side of the amateurs, or the pros. If they line up with the pros, then another group needs to be formed to “govern” golf for the rest of us. All of the discussion about “growing” the game of golf is meaningless when the R&A and USGA are focused on the upper 1% of golfers. I really wonder how many conversations at the USGA and R&A include the phrase “Is this a good thing for the average amateur?” I’m willing to bet that the answer is close to zero. I’m also willing to bet that none of the people making the decisions “for the good of the game” cna really be considered an “average” golfer.

 

3 thoughts on “Golf News Roundup: Euro Tour Loses Stars; Tiger’s 2013 Start; Player Speaks; More”

  1. I think the European tour will continue to struggle because the USA has most of the biggest tournaments in the world.

    The players recognize this and want to be playing where the bigger tournaments are.

    Reply
  2. The European Tour’s problem is an interesting one. On the one hand, they are arguably developing some of the best talent in the world—witness the Ryder Cup wins. On the other hand, they can’t keep the talent at home. There certainly is lots more money in Europe and Asia combined than in the US, so maybe its time for new management—someone who will get the sponsorships needed.

    Reply
  3. Yes I agree, you have to question who is running the tour over there. If the talent keeps on disappearing then there is something seriously wrong.

    It looks like they are doing half the job and developing the good players but not completing the job and keeping them.

    Reply

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