FEATURE | GOLF
Striking a balance The PGA European Tour is now global in all but name. With a schedule that spans the calendar year and takes in almost everywhere north, south, and east of the organisation’s Wentworth headquarters, the golf series is now in the business of making compromise pay. By James Emmett
Keith Waters, the PGA European Tour’s chief operating officer, is steering the series towards growth
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s 2013 drew to a close, a # ! + ! world rankings brought with it an air of the familiar. With Tiger Woods leading Australia’s Adam Scott at the top, the rest of the # $# ! & % and three Europeans. The heady days of 2011, which ended with Europeans $# ! $ & ! In winning the FedEx Cup Series and the Race to Dubai, Henrik Stenson
# $ riband prizes of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. The 37-year-old Swede was ranked 230th in the world at the beginning of 2012, though, and although his rise has been meteoric, his name doesn’t pack the punch of many of his other more celebrated European $ ' # of US Open winner Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy and the glamour names of European golf underwhelmed across the past year. But for the tour that nourished and propelled those names, 2013 was something of a breakthrough. 76 | www.sportspromedia.com
¤ ( & # & } reports Keith Waters, the European Œ $ + ! # ! ¤Œ & ! funding for tournaments is a lot more stable. It’s been quite a sea change from three or four years ago, when there was quite a challenge for us to collect the prize money off a number of promoters, # $ —&
# } The strain put to bear on the European Π$
& $ Œ $ # $ $ —$ # & $ #
& $ $ &
$ ! European Tour that in August, Waters & $ $ $ America’s PGA Tour was planning a & _! # $ the potential allure for the far richer but US-centric PGA Tour was plain. Though &
—$ # Œ $ & $ global in all but name.
At the time of writing, there were 50 & —$ # Tour schedule, including the four Majors, the Ryder Cup, and the four World Golf Championship tournaments – three of ‚$ ! & including the Ryder Cup, will take place in Europe. England, where the European Œ $ {$ & on the calendar, one fewer than China and the United Arab Emirates, which hosts the Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, and six fewer than South Africa, whose own Sunshine Œ $ # & ! $ for Waters and his team in recent years. “There were always going to be fewer tournaments in Europe and more in the ! } # ' ¤ $ that’s been accentuated in the last few
$ ! } George O’Grady, who is beginning ! $ & $ he has adopted since assuming the role ! – ¤Œ ! {$ } SportsPro & ¤! $ business areas knowing you’re coming into fairly recessionary times. I think the thing I thought you had to do was widen us from just being on the European stage. We had to expand and become global in } Culminating in the DP World Tour Championship, the Race to Dubai ranking concept, which replaced the struggling Order of Merit in 2009 and boasted a multi-million dollar bonus pool for the # # ^ # of that strategy. So too was the emphasis # # & and tourism authorities, rather than
Henrik Stenson, in shadow, won the European Tour’s Race to Dubai by winning the DP World Tour Championship, whose sponsor is on board until 2017
just traditional corporate sponsors. If O’Grady has spearheaded the growth that & # time with ministers and presidents and # & it is Waters and his team who are left to balance the books. “We’re big enough & )$ $ } ›+œ ¤_+ & Œ $ $ # } It’s not just the books that Waters has to balance. In fact, the Englishman has become a master of the art of the
% challenging about the job, he cites the following example: “A player probably wants to earn as much money as he can playing in not too many tournaments, and a sponsor wants as much exposure and & $ # $ with the top players, when there’s only so much time in the day for all of that. In that sense, we’re in the middle trying to & + # } Balancing the classic promoter-player 2 $
the only one. Waters must also balance the weighting of the tour schedule between its
European heartland and elsewhere, which itself necessitates a compromise with # ! & ! an eye on new markets and fewer business reasons to support tournaments in Europe. Waters must also balance the opinions of the Tour’s fans and the media with # & ›! calendar he says, “We’re delighted with the spread, but it depends who you are as to how you look at the Tour schedule. Some people think we’re actually too & + # & $ many different countries and cultures. Other people look at it as a huge strength
$ & many different options if one particular territory or country or tournament has a bit of a challenge, we can soon look at $ & “It’s quite challenging for the players & $ ! !! but you either embrace that challenge and that cultural change on a regular basis or you’re stuck in one country and one time | } The pioneering spirit is one, Waters says, —$ # Œ $ $ & & _
is also one that has a handy outlet in the Tour’s feeder series, the Challenge Tour. ÂŒ # # & # # $ ¢ & # + not simply apply to the youngsters that hold memberships. Of the 25 tournaments $ ! • —$ # a European to international ratio that is perhaps naturally stronger than in the European Tour proper. But Waters readily admits that the Challenge Tour acts as a test bed not just for the players but for all ! $ $ & “The Challenge Tour played in ! } he explains. “It also played in Oman, # & $ ! —$ # ÂŒ $ & !$ $ ' # & # $ ! # grow the game in certain countries, and it opens new opportunities in terms of # & ! $ _ & $ # “There’s no doubt that it would be too much of a risk and a challenge to —$ # ÂŒ $ & $ € $ + & infrastructure or the expertise to host a & & + SportsPro Magazine | 77
FEATURE | GOLF
Let the Sunshine in
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he US$6.5 million Nedbank Golf Challenge became the $ %! & join the European Tour last year. The tournament, nicknamed ‘Africa’s Š ) + ! & & ! & & position of world number one since the ! !! South Africa’s Sunshine Tour now & —$ # Tour calendar – by far the most of any nation – with a ninth carrying the $ ! ¢—$ # ÂŒ $ " ## & + tournament, meaning European Tour players do not need an exemption to come to play in it. Since being close to bankruptcy itself some 15 years ago, the South African series is now, according to one insider, in “ridiculously # } ›!! US$16 million in prize purses across $ \ $ !
the PGA Tour and European Tour’s # | $ $ in rand terms – the Sunshine Tour has # & —$ # Œ $ & $ $ Selwyn Nathan, the Sunshine Tour’s charismatic deputy chairman and chief $ & # the European Tour is symbiotic and $ $ ¤Œ # with each other has got to the stage we’re at now because of what we offer } * # # & ! $ !
Sunshine Tour chief executive Selwyn Nathan
Mount Edgecombe Country Club in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal, where the Nelson Mandela Championship – a joint $ Œ $ "—$ # Œ $ & naturally – is being played out. In the 15 years that Nathan has been at the helm, the relationship has grown from strength to strength. Knowledge ! # & # ) promotion are cornerstones of the ¤' & # open up opportunities for young South Africans to be able to participate in {$ } * ¤Œ we offer opportunities to guys on their Challenge Tour wanting to come and # $ {$ “We also work on transferring skills. › $ +& $ ! $ ! —$ # $ !
South Africa’s 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel is a regular on the country’s Sunshine Tour
78 | www.sportspromedia.com
and a tournament director from South Africa. It’s a great opportunity for our guys to learn from these experienced people. There’s nothing better than good experience that’s transferred properly – how do you set up the golf course so it’s tough for the professionals but fair? They’re learning from each } But with the South African tour more explicitly built around tourism generation – and with tournament funding drawn in the large part from & $ boards accordingly – it is the guaranteed & # ! —$ # Tour can offer that is the real draw for Nathan. All the European Tour & $ %! "# $ by European Tour Productions and Sunshine Tour Productions, but it is the European entity, essentially made up of $ & ! _Šœ $ those pictures around the world. “They offer us the most amazing partnership with Sunshine Tour Productions and —$ # ÂŒ $ ˜ $ } Nathan. “South Africa is currently rated the number one golf destination in the world. What we try to do is use South Africa as a destination not only for golf tournaments, but for tourism as a whole. Part of the sale to tourism is how many eyes are watching. ¤_ & $ # € the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek two weeks ago, which was & $ & and SMSs, and WhatsApp messages, and Twitter messages from South Africans, ! % & # # ! away as the Bahamas, saying, ‘Where is that place? There are lions, elephants, snakes, baboons‌ where is that place? How do we get there? How do we play on that golf course?’ “The pictures that went out from Leopard Creek are not only about the Dunhill tournament and Charl Schwartzl beating Richard Finch on the back nine, it’s more that nobody had & # ÂŒ $ & ! $ ! # ÂŒ + }
Maintaining a European heartland
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ollowing a string of tournament cancellations, most notably in Spain, there was good news for the European Tour in 2013 as two new European $ ! € /| ~ #$ # & $ & cancelled, and one in Denmark. It is the "$# ! 0 & # & an insight into the multi-stakeholder approach that now goes into funding #" & ! & The tournament, whose unorthodox ‘Made in Denmark’ name hints at the $ & ! will be played at the Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort in the North Jutland
/ Œ $ & ! & # ! culture, the understanding in some of these countries is quite important, then ! # $ & —$ # Œ $ & } The D+D Real Czech Masters, a new & ˜ $ —$ # Tour schedule, is a case in point. It has the same promoter – Relmost AS – and the same sponsor that organised and funded the D+D Real Czech Challenge Open on the European Challenge Tour for the last two years. ¤' +& $ Czech Republic for four years, but now we’re closer to Prague, to the city, so I think there’s probably a stronger future ! & } ' ! $ & " contract in place. He explains that the # # & ! & # $ /| # # › # The inclusion of golf on the Olympic programme – it will make its debut at the Rio Games in 2016 – has opened up & $ —$ # Œ $ + & # ' # / Œ $ & another that has been set up with an # › # & the European Tour is in discussion with
! $ of 156 players in August. An initial three-year deal has been signed and a â‚Ź1.5 million annual prize fund put up. The total budget for the tournament, & ‰ _ !$ ! # —& 0 & + entity for bringing international sporting & 0 0 Âœ ! Union. In tandem with those backers, tournament promoter Flemming Astrup has put together a commercial structure that includes between ten and 12 main sponsor slots, and between 15 and 20 smaller partner positions. A host of preliminary partners, including Ecco, PWC, Willis, SAP, Mercedes Benz, Einer
a handful of African countries looking to set up tournaments for similar reasons. ˜$ "# & # # perhaps now the status quo in terms of tournament set-up. Waters points to the new Turkish Airlines Open, a US$7 & ! {$ new four-tournament ‘Final Series’ that now concludes the Race to Dubai, # ! & approached the European Tour, & $ on board its own national sponsors in Turkish Airlines and the Turkish tourism board. Still, corporate sponsors retain a strong hand on the European Tour tiller. ¤' & & # national opens in a lot of European $ $ )$ # } # ' ¤1 $ & & $ & —$ # potentially a huge purse and opportunities in another country. That has been quite a discussion internally for a few years. “There are natural reasons why we’d $## —$ # & € encourage European players in Europe to aspire towards a Ryder Cup, for instance. Š ! $ $ & Œž in Europe or the US, so the time zone is important in terms of spectators being Œ & /
Hessel, Hilding Anders, Freja Transport, Jysk and Garia, were already in place by # $ in May. “There’s such a good, large number ! 0 # } ' ¤ + $ ! $ # ! & that we had a tournament for those Danish players to play. We know from the number of people that log on to $ & + {$ a high proportion of Nordic, northern European countries that follow the —$ # Œ $ & ' ! & that there’s going to be a huge crowd at Himmerland in Denmark next August, + & # & }
the American and European audience don’t participate. There is a balance ! + & # ! & $ # $ $ & ! + $ — } % & & # ! not into a catch-22 situation, then one that & _ trying to limit the number of tournaments in Asia, the European Tour has had to
# $ & its sponsors for tournaments in Europe – which has often necessitated ceding to ! # & & ! % ¤' ## some of the international companies +& `Š' ƒ `/ ` ž & & —$ # & $ +& & — } ' ¤_ + & ! $ ! $ $ $ those sponsors and say, ‘We’ll carry on $ —$ # & $ + $ & $ !! + ' +& $ to sit down with them and look at their worldwide marketing strategy and how it $ $ ! + $ & } BMW is one partner for whom the $ + & SportsPro Magazine | 79
FEATURE | GOLF
The PGA Tour rivalry
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he European Tour’s expansion plan has taken $ & Crossing the Atlantic and making inroads in the opposite direction, in terms of setting up tournaments at least, is off limits. ¤' & $ ˜œ% Œ $ $ + } Waters explains. Œ & $ though the odds are stacked in the % + ! & $ into a mutual respect and appreciation of what the other can offer. “I think + # & ! ! & standards of your tournaments, the & & _ + & $
& & # ! # } ' ¤_ + & $
been an ongoing challenge for 25, 30 years, but the best players will & $ # the best tournaments. But there is also an understanding that those players need to play a world schedule, and their sponsors want them to be seen in different territories. So there’s a limit to how many times a player will just play in one country throughout the season. “When you consider the size of their golf market, it’s quite pleasing that people actually consider that we’re in the same league. Their market is so much bigger than ours, it’s incredible that we do compete with them. I & American market is so big for these international companies in isolation & # budget. For BMW, for instance, the
In 2012, BMW added the BMW Masters in China to the events it sponsors in England and Denmark
Already a sponsor of the ₏2 million BMW International Open in Cologne and the BMW PGA Championship – the Tour’s 2 # $ {$ in Wentworth, England – the German car manufacturer signed a deal in April 2012 to title sponsor a new tournament in China. With a prize fund of US$7 million, 80 | www.sportspromedia.com
the BMW Masters is the second-most $ & Π$ of the four climactic tournaments that make up the Race to Dubai Final Series. With Rolex, Emirates and DP World signing major, expanded deals with the European Tour towards the end of 2013, '
BMW tournament on the PGA Tour is funded solely from their American ! Š$ and they fund the three tournaments with us: one in London, one in Germany, and one in China. “It’s great if the American players want to come and play, and we know from time to time they do, but our responsibility is to the European Tour and its members, and to growing our tournaments internationally. Occasionally sponsors want the % # # Š & good dialogue with some of them: Phil Mickelson comes to play in the Scottish Open year after year. He started because he was sponsored by Barclays and he represented them there but he’s continued to play for three years now ` ! # # }
¤_ + )$ # } he says. “It’s a number of sponsors and partners that are looking to extend their # } With the past 12 months bringing a # $ ! ' is pleased to report that the European Œ $ & # ! the future in more detail. Part of that planning is likely to include a greater focus on the tour’s transition from tournament organiser to tournament organiser-cum-brand. “We are putting more and more clips on to our website and using digital applications but we # $ # $ $ & + ! } Waters explains of plans to ramp up the organisation’s digital offerings. “We’re # & + ! & Š +& # body for a number of years, so adjusting to the B2C climate has been a challenge ! $ & # & so dramatically in that period. “Some of the sponsors we’re talking to & $ } ` &