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Ryder Cup relocation puts European Tour in trouble

Dhe pressure from all sides ultimately left the responsible parties with no choice. For the second time in its history, the Ryder Cup will be postponed by one year. In 2001, the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center on September 11 were the reason to move the biennial competition between the best professionals from Europe and the United States into the next year. This time, in times of the corona pandemic, it is uncertainty. About whether the greatest golf spectacle can really be held in Kohler (Wisconsin) with spectators at the end of September. Especially since the PGA Tour has to do without hosting the Memorial Tournament in Dublin (Ohio) as planned with a reduced attendance of 8,000 next week.


What is just barely bearable at regular tournaments, even a major like the PGA Championship in San Francisco in mid-August, is not possible with this prestige duel. A Ryder Cup without fans, the top players from the old and new world agreed, loses all charm. The patriotically attuned golf enthusiasts – in Paris there were a total of 270,000 in 2018 – with their cheering and singing create an atmosphere that is unique in golf. The Northern Irish world number one Rory McIlroy and the American Brooks Koepka had indicated that they were not available for a “Ghost Ryder Cup”. The still high number of infections in the United States and the strict quarantine rules for immigrants to the host country served as a further argument for the shift.

£ 9.5 million in a year

The 43rd edition of the competition, which has been held since 1927, will take place in late September 2021 on the spectacular Whistling Straits course on the shores of Lake Michigan. At a time when Team USA wanted to compete with the rest of the world (without Europe) at the Presidents Cup. Instead, this will also be postponed to 2022. The Solheim Cup, the female version of the United States versus Europe duel, scheduled for September 2021 in Toledo, Ohio, is scheduled to take place. It is still unclear whether this competition will be held in years without Ryder Cup in the future.

On the other hand, it is clear who suffers the most from the postponement of the Ryder Cup: it is the European Tour. In the meantime, the two organizers – the PGA of America and the European Tour – are marketing themselves together, so that a little money also flows into the coffers of the European tournament series for away games. But the European Tour only collects the big money at home games – and the next one is only due in Rome in 2023. The numbers show the predicament of this for the organization led by Canadian Keith Pelley as CEO. From 2011 to 2018, the European Tour made operational losses at its headquarters in Virginia Waters near London each year without Ryder Cup home games: £ 7.9 million in 2015, even £ 9.5 million in 2017. However, it reports won £ 10.2 million in 2018 with the successful Ryder Cup in Paris. In addition, since Kelley took the lead in 2015, reserves have shrunk from over £ 20m to £ 9.6m, according to the London Times.

Kelley has significantly increased the workforce to around 265 employees, fired several executives with high severance payments and invested a lot of money in a “social media” department. Creating a new website alone cost a million pounds. As Kelley now admitted, a mistake. The corona pandemic has hit the European Tour hard. Although two tournaments have been taking place in Austria since Thursday and then six in Great Britain, there were no television broadcasts and no TV funds during the long forced break. Added to this is the fear that sponsors will drop out during the expected economic downturn. Kelley has already announced massive austerity measures. 65 employees, including four regulars, are to be fired. The offices in France and Hong Kong will be closed and the office in Dubai will be downsized.

In a letter to the members, Kelley already warned of clear cuts. So next year there will probably no longer be a driver service for the players, and the lavishly equipped “Player’s Lounges” will also disappear. And nobody can predict what the tournament calendar will look like in the new year. The top European players are already earning their money primarily on the much more lucrative PGA Tour, only making occasional trips to their home tournament series, which hosts tournaments worldwide on four continents. It is already speculated whether the overpowering PGA Tour like in Canada, Latin America or China will take over the European Tour as a European springboard for the really big stage in America.

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