Your weekly dose of GolfBUZZ ... Issue 33
Brought to you by Golfhub Ireland

Has the European Tour sold its
soul to the Race to Dubai?

Asks JO MAES
It's the end of the world as we know it.
Has the European Tour sold its soul by this week's announcement of 'the Race to Dubai'? I believe this marks the start of the decline of the European Tour as we know it.
There's nothing European about Dubai, there's nothing European about giving 2,000,000 DOLLARS (where's the Euro gone) to the winner, there's nothing European about this event. You have to be a member of the European Tour to be taken on 'the Road to Dubai' which means paying the fee (pittance compared to the money to be made) and competing in the obligatory 11 events.
Tiger could play if he took up membership. The 11 events consist of the 4 majors (Tiger will play in them), the 3 World Championships (Tiger will play in those) which leaves him another 4 to compete in.
The Dubai Desert Classic (he's played in that), he could play in Germany (tick), maybe Loch Lomond (would be a first) and you never know, if Failte Ireland pulls out all the stops he might even show up at Adare Manor.
This year we saw Justin Rose win the season-ending Volvo Masters and snatch the Order of Merit from Harrington and Co. Justin Rose is a full member of the US tour and only plays a couple of tournaments in Europe.
I doubt that 'the Road to Dubai' will change these guys' minds given the fact that you can only play a handful of events and still win.
My fear is that the 'minors' on the European Schedule like the French Open, Dutch Open, Scottish Open etc. will all lose the big names as they will still continue to compete on the US tour. This will eventually result in the loss of sponsorships and ... the loss of tournaments.
Also, Volvo has sponsored the Volvo Masters and other events for many years, which probably generated a lot of PR and marketing for them, but after having sponsored 10 years of season ending finale, they won't be interested to be reduced to a regular tour stop.
Will they continue to support the tour? They might take up the European Open and bring it to Sweden!
There are still a lot of familiar names and tournaments on the 2008 schedule. Will this still be the case in five years?
Reactions to yours truly at jmaes@golfhub.ie
GolfBUZZ Issue 33 has arrived ... Enjoy.

Mr. Buzzy beats his friend ...
Mr. Buzzy was on the phone to his friend when he burst out in tears."I can't believe it," he sobbed. "The missus left me for my regualr golfing partner."
"Get a hold of yourself, man," said Mr. Buzzy's friend. "Don't worry, there are plenty of other women out there."
"Never mind her." said Mr. Buzzy. "It's far worse than that. He was the only guy that I could ever beat!"

TRUTH of the week by Tom Watson:
"There is no surer or more painful way to learn a rule than to be penalised once for breaking it!"

Yours sincerely,
Jo Maes
Golfhub Ireland
jmaes@golfhub.ie
Tel. +353.40.23.00.00

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