Sympathy for Keith Pelley was in short supply last week. No sooner had the European Tour's chief executive praised strong communication with players with regards to safety at the Turkish Airlines Open than one of the group contradicted him.
"I wasn't the only one who believed it was about to be struck off the schedule due to the security concerns there," said Shane Lowry, in his column for this newspaper.
“I know everyone’s going to say how good it was in Turkey and how nice the place is but there were times last week we simply didn’t know what was going to happen and that is a situation that doesn’t suit me at all.
“I think the information we were getting, or probably more importantly weren’t getting, wasn’t good enough. Nobody sat us down and told us exactly what was going on.”
Lowry was far from the only one to be unconvinced by the relaying of information Pelley heralded. This struck a chord with members of the media who were accredited for the event. There was no message, detailed or otherwise, in the buildup with regards to precisely why Turkey was safe and the tournament could be attended without fear. Instead, there was disappointing silence.
The key thing is the competition passed without notable incident, aside from a
highly encouraging Thorbjorn Olesen win. If raw talent alone counts, the Dane will be part of the Ryder Cup in 2018.
By that time, the European Tour scene will look different. Next week in Dubai, Pelley will announce the schedule for next season, with a high number of changes expected. Among them, perhaps, will be the removal of a Final Series, which has thrown up more problems than answers despite the riches on offer. The Irish Open will immediately precede its Scottish equivalent, with Turkey potentially switched to another calendar slot entirely.
The simple element of Pelley’s job is also the most complex - coaxing the sponsors he so desires to drive up tournament purses to the point where the PGA Tour is even partly challenged. The situation in Europe will become even more acute, and difficult, if the PGA Tour ups its playing demands for full-time membership.
Blue chip companies will only invest with the knowledge top players will contest their events; those professionals have their own agendas, schedules and commitments to the point where guaranteed fields and purses is a seriously tricky business. In this game of cat and mouse, Pelley’s reputation is on the line, not least because he took office with grand promises of increasing the attractiveness of the European Tour.
It is with this spinning of plates in mind that Pelley's potentially special treatment of Patrick Reed should be viewed. Also speaking in Turkey, the chief executive all but admitted Reed will be permitted to rejoin the European Tour for the new season despite falling short of the requisite number of 2016 playing appearances. Reed's scenario does not look entirely clever when the Ryder Cup and Olympic Games contributed to a total of three.
One rule for one? You bet it is. By the same principle, albeit not in exactly the same circumstances, Rory McIlroy was permitted to turn out in the Race to Dubai finale 12 months ago. Here is the rub; without marquee players, the European Tour product is vastly diminished. That, in turn, inevitably affects commercial opportunity and what monies are on offer at the lower end of the scale. In Turkey, even those sharing 31st place collected €45,000 each.
Top golfers are the European Tour’s selling point and, being blunt, their best negotiating tool. It would seem unfair to castigate Pelley on one hand for not delivering on his early plans before making the same criticism for trying to attract the biggest names. From Reed’s point of view, the willingness to be a European Tour member in itself highlights an endearing desire to be a global golfer rather than exist permanently within the confines of his home competitions.
The essential element here is in Reed committing to specific events in Europe, rather than paying lip service to the Tour and, therefore, undermining Pelley’s exemption. This is a golfer who starred in the Ryder Cup, who has the game components to be a multiple major champion and among the top bracket in the world. There is no logic attached to his playing in events from Abu Dhabi to Ayrshire not being appealing. Reed, unlike far too many within his sport, has character to dovetail with talent.
In Dubai, Pelley will inevitably continue with his bullish stance towards the future. It may be he has tried to immediately alter too much within his company than was feasible from the outset. Nonetheless, in the case of Reed there is obvious logic to a chief executive’s intervention.
(Guardian service)
