Winds of change are blowing in the European Tour, with chief executive Keith Pelley announcing a couple of major changes in their membership policy and the 2016 schedule.
Pelley, who took over from George O’Grady earlier this year, also acknowledged that the European Tour needs to become a viable alternative to the PGA Tour, and will have to up their game so that players play more events on this side of the Atlantic.
On the eve of the DP World Tour Championship, Pelley said the European Tour will pursue a ‘players-first philosophy’, which has led to the change in the membership policy.
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Players on the European Tour will now be able to keep alive their membership by playing just five events in the 2016 Race to Dubai schedule – down from 13 mandatory events at present. While the number may look alarming, it only excludes the four majors and the four World Golf Championships.
Ryder Cup talisman Ian Poulter’s mad dash to the Hong Kong Open to fulfill his quota after he fell out of the top-50 in the world ranking and became ineligible for the WGC-HSBC Champions (an event that he eventually played because of withdrawals), was the decision's catalyst.
Several European Tour stars are on the PGA Tour, but for those who are ranked outside the top-50 in the world, it was becoming difficult to play 13 events if they became ineligible for some of the majors and WGC events.
“After significant dialogue with all of our players, we have made a decision to move from 13 to five, excluding the four majors and the four World Golf Championships. So our players now have to play in five events, as opposed to 13,” said Pelley.
“One of the reasons was simple, it is to help some of the players that have been entrenched in the US. It certainly came to light and came to the forefront after what transpired in Hong Kong with Ian Poulter, and him having to race around to play in Hong Kong to make sure that he got those events.
Keith Pelley has GRAND plans for @EuropeanTour – @Sport360 pic.twitter.com/CWQslJcrHg
— Joy Chakravarty (@TheJoyofGolf) November 17, 2015
“This, I believe, will allow our players to schedule more efficiently, at the beginning of the year, so they know exactly how they are going to maintain their membership.
“We are in the midst of structuring our overall Tour in a more, what I call, players-first philosophy. That will be something that will be absolutely critical for us.”
Pelley added that it was natural for players to gravitate towards the US PGA Tour, given the attractive prize purse every week, and said the European Tour simply needed to make their events bigger and better.
“At this particular time, if you are a young player, and you have done very well in the European Tour, and you want to make the most money, you are going to go play in America,” he added.
“You will ask: How are you actually going to have our people play more often here in Europe? The answer is very simple. We need to provide a viable alternative to the PGA Tour for our elite, medium and low-ranked players. End of story.
“We need to be more too important to be dismissed. It doesn't come any more simpler than that.”
Meanwhile, a new-look Final Series, comprising three events instead of four, was revealed.
The change was necessitated by BMW pulling their sponsorship of the Masters event in Shanghai and also the fact that many top-ranked players in the Race to Dubai were unable to make it to the WGC-HSBC Champions field, due to its eligibility criteria.
The new Final Series, in the first three weeks of November 2016, will be the $7 million Turkish Airlines Open, the $7 million NedBank Challenge and the $8 million DP World Tour Championship.
