2013 European Tour schedule: An Analysis

Last month, during the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, The European Tour’s Chief Operating Officer, Keith Waters, announced the schedule for the 2013 European Tour season.

The new campaign, which begins in South Africa this week, will see a minimum of 45 tournaments being played over five continents, from the flagship BMW PGA in England to the Perth International in Australia. The Tour deserves high acclaim for producing such a varied and global schedule, but what are the main changes, what positives will they bring and are there any concerns?

Healthy schedule

The European Tour has struggled for investment of late but, encouragingly, the 2013 schedule looks extremely healthy. The European Tour has, admirably, managed to schedule a tournament almost every week over a 12-month period. South Africa will stage six tournaments on the 2013 roster, underlining its integral importance to the European Tour. With countries like Spain – the traditional epicentre of the tour – haemorrhaging more tournaments each year, it is absolutely vital that other host nations come to the fore.

New locations, new ideas

South Africa has been significant for a number of years, and increased prominence is merely natural progression. What is more encouraging about the new schedule, however, is an expansion into pastures new. Bulgaria will host its first European Tour event as the Volvo World Matchplay starts its yearly rotation, and a successful tournament could be the catalyst for further expansion into Eastern Europe. Russia returns to the schedule for the first time since 2008 and, perhaps most significantly, the lucrative Turkish Open makes its debut as the penultimate event of the 2013 Race to Dubai.

The Turkish Open forms part of another major development for the 2013 season: the inaugural four-tournament ‘Finals Series’. It starts with the HSBC-Champions, before taking in the BMW Masters, the Turkish Open and the DP World Tour Championship. The combined prize pool for the four events is more than $30m, with anyone playing all four tournaments receiving a 20% bonus in Race to Dubai points.

British decline

The European Tour has been praised from many quarters for an innovative schedule, and rightly so, but that isn’t to say some of the pressing issues have been eradicated. One of the main problems is the lack of golf being played in Europe, and especially England, where the Tour is headquartered. Rory McIlroy has won five times on the European Tour, but none of those wins came on European soil. It is vital to grow golf in expanding areas, such as Asia and the Middle East, but a lack of tournaments in Great Britian is a concern.

A few years ago, events like the Victor Chandler British Masters and the Volvo World Matchplay were some of the biggest of the season. Next year, only five events will be staged in the British Isles, and only one in England. How are we supposed to continue to grow the game in this country is there aren’t sufficient opportunities to watch top-tier golf without subscribing to Sky? I’m sure the tour’s governing body is keeping an eye on the issue, but if we don’t provide chances to watch golf, it’ll be much harder to attract the younger generation and whet their appetite for the sport.

European exodus

Perhaps the main contemporary issue is the number of Europeans taking up PGA Tour membership. Next season, Paul Lawrie and Francesco Molinari will be the only European Ryder Cup team members to play exclusively on the European Tour. Nicolas Colsaerts and Peter Hanson have recently announced plans to compete more regularly in America, as has Martin Kaymer, a man who has often expressed his disinclination to do so. It isn’t just the top-tier European professionals that are being attracted to the States. Last week at PGA Tour Q-School, Alexander Noren, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Ross Fisher, Oliver Fisher and Romain Wattel were all in the field.

The launch of the Finals Series, I suspect, in a response to such an exodus, and an attempt to match the levels of excitement seen at the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs - undoubtedly the inspiration behind the new end-of-season plans. I understand the motivations, but I can’t see the Finals Series making any difference.

Discernible change?

One of the main things missing through the European Tour season is a sense of spectacle, something which, in my view, is one of the main driving forces behind moves to the PGA Tour. This simply can’t be redressed by four tournaments at the end of the season. The sense of grandeur, excitement levels and crowd numbers at PGA Tour events far outweighs what we see most weeks in Europe. It is the prerogative of any golfer to play where he likes, and I can’t blame those wishing to play their trade in America. The issue of loyalty is often brought up but, the way I see it, anyone dedicating their lives to being so good at golf deserves to play at the top level.

Unfortunately for the European Tour, America is perceived to be the top level. Staging new tournaments in new European nations and offering incentives, such as free entry to under 18s, are good ways to raise the profile of the tour. But, at this moment, the PGA Tour is well ahead in every category, from support and media coverage to quality of courses and players. A four-tournament mini-series may generate some additional media coverage, but it isn’t going to close the growing chasm emerging between the two tours.

What’s more, it isn’t as if the season-ending events struggle with weak fields. Most of the world’s best play at the WGC-HSBC Champions, and even more will be attracted now it has been given official PGA Tour status. In addition, 11 of the 12 European Ryder Cup team played at this year’s inaugural BMW Masters, and Sergio Garcia would have been in the field had he not been recovering from eye surgery. We need to focus of obtaining stronger year-round fields, instead of throwing huge sums of money at tournaments with a pre-existing history of world-class participants.

FedEx Cup flawed

I’m also concerned the Final Series could develop into a European Tour FedEx Cup equivalent. The excitement of the play-offs is there for all to see, and it’s fantastic to watch the world’s best players contesting events that aren’t majors or WGCs. That being said, the play-offs are a highly flawed model that reward timing over season-long consistency. McIlroy, for example, didn’t win the FedEx Cup, despite winning two play-off events and being comfortably the best player of the season. Bill Haas, the previous year, managed to scoop a $10m bonus despite starting the 30-man Tour Championship in 26^th position on the money list.

I hope the Final Series can capture the excitement of the play-offs, but it needs to come without the farcical and absurdly disproportionate distribution of points. Sadly, though, the two season-ending series’ won’t be on a level playing field in terms of stature. The key difference between the two comes down to relative strengths of fields. Without Americans, who currently occupy four of the top ten positions in the Official World Golf Ranking, the European evens simply won’t carry the same prestige. It is a huge shame, but it appears to be a situation that isn’t going to change.

I applaud the European Tour for trying to bring more drama and excitement to the climax to the Race to Dubai, but for me it is too little, too late. More needs to be done to raise the profile of the tour through all 12 months of the season. It is encouraging to see events staged in new European locations, and a healthy 45-tournament schedule, but a manufactured FedEx Cup-esque conclusion will do little to close the gap in stature between the PGA and European Tours.