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The mood was upbeat at last week’s teleconference; it always is with Keith Pelley, the European Tour’s veritable Jack-in-a-Box of a chief executive. What is more, you had the feeling that none among his members would have been wincing overmuch at the relatively paltry €1m purses attached to five of the come-back tournaments which contribute to the opening run of six. For the moment at least, the players are positivity personified.
“Every golfer I know will simply be saying, ‘Phew! It’s great to be playing again’,” said Jamie Spence, a former winner of the European Masters and a player liaison officer who now works for Sky.
Lee Slattery, a past winner of the Madrid Masters and the Russian Open, said he had taken one look at a first draft of the 2020 schedule which was sent out a month or so ago and felt confident that the tour’s plans could not have been shaping better. He was not vaguely worried about what was then a mere warning about a reduction in prize-money, feeling as he has done for some time that the players were becoming just too money-orientated, and that they needed to start putting support of the European Tour first.
Andrew “Beef” Johnston was one to echo Slattery’s thoughts. “A huge well done to the tour,” Johnston said. “Such a crazy difficult time. Let’s pull along and help each other.” He signed off with a couple of smiley faces when his own would have done just fine.
Richard McEvoy, winner of last year’s Porsche European Open tweeted, “Been a long process but everyone at the European Tour has done an incredible job in extremely difficult circumstances to get us back out playing again. Massive thanks to all the staff.”
Dr. Andrew Murray and Keith Pelley both predicted that we’re going to hear a lot of the tour’s new campaign slogan – “Golf for Good” – in the coming months, though hopefully not as much as Boris Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done.”
Right from the start of the teleconference, Pelley was quick to praise everyone on his team while giving a special mention to Dr. Andrew Murray, the tour’s chief medical officer whose idea it was to bracket the first six tournaments together in the one country.
How that makes sense. They will start on 22 July with the Betfred British Masters at Close House Golf Club. An English Open at the Forest of Arden, where the purse was precisely €1m for the English Open of 1999, will follow on from the Lee Westwood show. And after that there will be an English Championship at the Hanbury Manor, a Celtic Classic and a Wales Open, both at Celtic Manor, and, by way of a finale to this mini tour, a UK Championship at the Belfry. That each of these events is no more than a three-hour drive from the next had Pelley suggesting that the UK brigade at least would never have an easier time of it in terms of travel.
The CEO went on to explain how the five seemingly sponsorless events were all started from scratch, with the money used coming from a Tournament Development Fund similar to the one run by the LPGA: “We could have made these tournaments larger in terms of the purse. We chose not to at this particular time as a prudent decision, not understanding where 2020 will take us going forward.”
He seized the moment to subdue recent rumours about the state of the tour’s finances: “Some of you will might want to ask if the European Tour is bankrupt or running out of money and I would say absolutely not. We have produced a strategy that has allowed us to do three things … to navigate through this initial phase of the crisis and resurrect our 2020 schedule; to prepare for the short term including 2021; and to us help plan for the long term from 2022 onwards.”
According to Murray the all-round health benefits of the game played a major part in convincing the World Health Organisation as to why golf should resume ASAP. “Golf is absolutely fantastic at all times but especially at a time like this,” said Murray, who was able to show WHO how, in the world of risk-assessment, there was so much good in golf to outweigh the bad.
Dr. Murray reckons we will see a fair amount of on-course smiles when the players return; less of the heads down and “in your own bubble” approach. “The players are all very mindful of what’s been going on in the world. They know that golf played the right way can be a force for the good.” He also thought that we might spot those inside the ropes encouraging those outside. As well they might ...
Would you believe that 82.9 percent of round-the-world spectators last year went beyond the recommended daily target of 10,000 steps, with their average 11,400? Indeed, the 90,000 fans who attended the Solheim Cup mustered enough steps among them to walk the Great Wall of China seven times over.
Murray and Pelley both predicted that we’re going to hear a lot of the tour’s new campaign slogan – “Golf for Good” – in the coming months, though hopefully not as much as Boris Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done.”
Apart from the health benefits, the slogan will embrace giving generously to each of the communities hosting golf tournaments, with the tour making donations of £50,000 to the venues involved in the early weeks, besides arming the top 10 on the “Mini” Order of Merit with £250,000 to give to the charities of their choice.
The commentators have not been given instructions as yet, but the aforementioned Spence has heard rumours that the commentary teams will be working in pods, rather like Paul Azinger’s arrangement for his Ryder Cup team of 2008. The on-course men will be in one group who will travel to and from the course in the same vehicle; the commentators in another.
He also anticipates that more players will be miked-up as TV people seek the best ways of keeping their audiences amused.
Everything changes from day to day at European Tour HQ as Pelley and Co., take on board the latest in quarantine regulations and what dates work for whom in a schedule which is expected to extend beyond its current total of events. In truth, you would have to think that the work which has been going on behind the scenes will have South Korean parents thinking that their golfing offspring are positively idle with their puny eight hours of daily practice.
Stress levels among tour personnel and tour partners can only be high, with Pelley apparently stilling the concerns of one of his sponsors with a wonderfully apposite, “Listen, this might not be the biggest event that you’ve ever done in terms of crowds and hospitality, but it will be the most important – and the most emotional.”
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