Last year PGA Tour decided to follow the example of other popular kinds of sports where the most exciting things happen in the end of the season. Having taken a look at the new rules, the Europeans appreciated the experience of their foreign counterparts and also made the new era of golf their objective.
Professional sport is big business. There’s no place for romance or sentimentality in it. Sport should be profitable and if we’re talking about golf the profits must be very great. What are the main sources for profit? Advertising and selling TV broadcast rights – in other words, the audience who pays for it buying a subscription to paid TV channel packages or advertised goods. What is the best bait for the audience and advertisers? Celebrities. What do you need to convince the biggest number of celebrities to take part in the tournament? Here the circle closes. Solid reputation and prize fund. The fight for celebrities among the leading golf tournaments rises on a new level.
The price
PGA Tour introduced a new system of points for season laps the culmination of which was the play-off series of 4 games – the FedEx Cup. The too long season with obscure finals is a thing of the past now. The total prize fund of the series is $63 million, $35 of which go to the players as an additional bonus in the end of the play-off. The absolute winner of the season gets a considerable sum of 10 million.
One of the reasons to launch the most ambitious project in the Tour’s history is the following: the millions, together with prestige and glory, according to the organizers’ concept, are going to make the best players in the world continue competing during the months that used to be gap months previously. However, such big money no longer make an impression in the world of golf that is without exaggeration stinking rich. It’s quite another matter. The main international golf tournament acquired a score system (incidentally, borrowed from the NASCAR race) that emphasizes victory and not the prize. The score give a clear idea of the player’s level, because prize funds of similar level tournaments sometimes differ significantly. Now the laps of the FedEx Cup Tour have the same "cost"; because of that the competitions are equally attractive for players and the audience.
The season is divided in 2 laps. The score earned by the golfers in the first 36 tournaments define the top 144 of best players. At the play-off stage the number of participants decreases from tournament to tournament: there are 144 players in Barclays Classic, 120 in the Deutsche Bank Championship, 70 in the BMW Championship that doesn’t have final elimination, and only 30 in the Tour Championship. Like we’ve already mentioned, besides the prize money earned at the tournaments the winner of the 1st place in the FedEx Cup gets $10 million. The 2nd place costs $3 million, the 3rd $2 million, and less and less as they go. The players from the 126th to the 144th place get a modest bonus of $32,000. These additional payments are not included in the official rating of the prize money.
However, there’s one more thing the importance of which shouldn’t be underestimated: only members of the PGA Tour can earn points. This way the strongest European golfers acquire a ponderable additional stimulus to spend the most part of the season in the US.
One of the Tour reps called the FedEx Cup the "new golf era"; the organizers intention is that it should remain this way at least up to 2012.
Europe enters the race
The European golf community decided to use the old well-tried medicine against the brain drain, i.e. big money. The financial help will come from the citizens of the Middle East who seek an opportunity to invest their excessive income from the ever-growing oil prices.
In late November the European Tour management and Leisurecorp developers that own real estate at the Jumeirah Golf Estates signed a 5-year partnership agreement in Dubai. According to it the European Order of Merit will cease to exist by 2009 and will be replaced by the Race to Dubai.
60 major Euro Tour stars will participate in the Champion’s Race and in the end of the year will share the bonus $10 million. The winner will get $2 million, the 2nd best - $1.5 million, the 3rd best - $1 million. 15 other comers will also be taken care of: the account of the last in top 15 will increase by $250,000.
10 more million will be the bet in the new end-of-the-season tournament, the Dubai World Championship scheduled to start on November 19-22, 2009. The Fire and Earth golf courses at the Jumeirah Golf Estates will host the battle fot the most important trophy of the priciest golf tournament in the world. Besides the prize cup and laurels, the winner will get a diabolically enticing check for $1,666,660.
Also, in less than a year the European Tour will have the new international headquarters in the same very location, the unique golfing village Jumeirah Golf Estates whose courses were designed by legends of the world golf Greg Norman, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh and the famous Pete Dye. European Tour CEO George O’Grady is certain that the "European Tour is becoming more and more of a global project, and it’s essential that it is based in the location that would be right and convenient for everyone, where the members of the Tour, sponsors and promoters can be offered ideal service facilities."
And one last thing. According to the intention of the organizers, in 2010 the Tour schedule will finally be brought "to order". Which means that the start of the European season will fall on the beginning of the calendar year and kick off in January instead of November as it happens now. This is the European answer to the PGA Tour and the FedEx Cup system.
Another surprise of the PGA Tour is the introduction of doping control. A early as this summer the professional players of the main Tour should bring themselves in shape, especially because noone is going to warn the golfers that the tests will begin and they won’t be aware of the date and time or whether they’re going to be checked before or after the competition. Also, there will be no limit as to the number of players taking the tests: the board can choose to test winners only or all other players as well. Last December during the training programme all the Tour members received special instructions that in particular concern "educational" measures for banned substance use. One-time violation of the rules will entail 1-year suspension; twice repeated violation will prolong this period up to 5 years. A three-times offender will be suspended for life and pay a $0.5 million fine.
Elena Georgieva
Photoreport
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