Euro Tour still in great shape
When you have a professional golf tour whose 2005 season starts in 2004 there are two ways to view the situation: Either it is a tour in trouble, or it is a highly imaginative and relentlessly resilient circuit with a decidedly strong survival instinct.
In the case of the European Tour, it is definitely the latter. Despite the defection of many of its top players to the United States, the tour is stronger than ever, as witnessed by the Europeans' rout of the United States in the last Ryder Cup. The only blemish on the European resume is the 21-tournament winless streak in the major championships -- and that will end in 2005.
The knee-jerk reaction when you look at the PGA Tour money list and see that Europeans such as Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke, Luke Donald and Justin Rose all played between 16 and 22 events on the American tour is that the days are numbered for the Euro circuit, or that at best it will become little more than an overseas Nationwide Tour. But what the European Tour has done quite cleverly is taken its show on the road to the rest of the world. By playing in 22 different nations -- only half of them actually in Europe -- the tour has broadened its appeal to corporate sponsors, especially those eyeing the emerging markets in Asia. It also has created a schedule in which it only needs its top players to play at home about 15 times a year -- easily done in the age of air travel -- in key European-based events.
There is no doubt that PGA Tour fans are going to see a lot of Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Donald, Paul Casey and Clarke in 2005. But they will also return to their home circuit for a few several-week stretches that will ensure they play enough European Tour events to remain Ryder Cup eligible. Between the Masters and the U.S. Open, the Irish Open, European Tour PGA Championship and Wales Open are on consecutive weeks. On either side of the British Open are the Scottish Open and the Deutsche Bank Players Championship. And in September there is the Omega European Masters, the Linde German Masters and the Dunhill Links Championship.
What the European Tour does brilliantly, in the meantime, is bring its product to the rest of the world. The '05 season started in November with the Volvo China Open followed by the Omega Hong Kong Open. There will be two more stops in China as well as visits to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Qatar and Russia. The PGA Tour may be the best in the world, but the European Tour has the rest of the world.
In addition to the marketing boon the European Tour gets by taking its tour to four continents, the circuit picks up another benefit by having so many of its players competing more often in the United States: World Ranking points. Many fans were surprised when the Europeans rolled over the Americans at Oakland Hills in the Ryder Cup because the Americans were so much higher in the Official World Ranking than the Europeans. Simply put, a tournament gets more World Ranking points based on strength of field -- which is determined by the Official World Ranking. So it is a self-perpetuating system. The U.S. Ryder Cup players knew the Europeans were better than their ranking points -- it was only the computers that had a blind eye. While Harrington, Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Clarke, Lee Westwood and Thomas Bjorn are all in the top 25 in the Official World Ranking, more Europeans will get more respect -- numerically, at least -- the more they play in the United States.
The other benefit the Europeans could get by playing more in America is that it might help their records in the major championships, since three of the four majors are played in the United States. The thing that jumps out at you when you consider European Tour players now is the lack of major championships. This year's 12-man Ryder Cup team had a grand total of zero among them. That's a far cry from when Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer -- all major championship winners -- anchored the European squad. The last European to win a major was Paul Lawrie at the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie and by any measuring stick -- the course set-up, Jean Van de Velde's collapse and Justin Leonard not coming through in the playoff -- it was a fluke victory.
From 1979, when Ballesteros burst on the scene, through Lawrie's victory in 1999, European players won 18 majors in 21 years and never went more than two consecutive years without claiming a major title. They have now been shut out five years in a row. But there is reason to think that will change. Five members of the last European Ryder Cup team -- Garcia, Casey, David Howell, Donald and Ian Poulter -- are all still in their 20s and three others -- Clarke, Westwood and Harrington -- are at the peak of their games. And the courses this coming year that will host the majors almost beg for at least one European winner.
Augusta National demands the delicate up-and-down game the Europeans all seem to possess, as attested to by the fact that Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Faldo, Ballesteros, Lyle and Woosnam won 11 Masters among them. Pinehurst, where the U.S. Open will be played in June, will also be set up to encourage balls that miss the green to run off into short-grass chipping areas rather than bury in ankle-deep rough. That is a very European shot. The Open Championship is at St. Andrews and that's about as European as you can get. The PGA Championship is at Baltusrol and the PGA of America displayed again this year at Whistling Straits that it knows how to set up a golf course for a major championship test. If I'm picking, at least one of the three among Garcia, Clarke and Harrington will win a major this year.
The Catch-22 for the European Tour has always been that its players don't get enough respect because they don't play enough in the United States. Now it looks like the big names are going to play more often on the PGA Tour. But it also looks like the European Tour has managed to turn this into a win-win situation. Its top players get a crack at the big American bucks and those same top players get more attention (and more World Ranking points), bringing more glory to the European Tour. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour has stepped aside and given the European Tour the rest of the world in which to grow. Oh yeah, and then there is the matter of that Ryder Cup having gone back to Europe seven of the last 10 times.
Don't worry about the European Tour. It's doing just fine.
