Sorry to bang on about the weather – we were banging on about it in last week’s bletherations – and here we are banging on about it again because at this time of the year we tend to start banging our heads against a brick wall for something to bang on about in the column because there becomes less and less to bang on about as the season prepares to go out with bang.
For this correspondent, it’s the blustery nature of the dismal daily deliveries from Mother Nature that’s the scunner. Nothing really devastating, just teeth-grindingly annoying as the wind’s constant presence leaves you hunched, contorted and tousled like Quasimodo trying to use a particularly powerful hair dryer. Switch on the forecast on the television and what do you see? That’s right, swirling, birling white arrows sweeping over the country. It’s like being involved in the opening credits of ‘Dad’s Army’ – you know, that bit when those three pointy German thingymebobs start poking and prodding at the south coast as Bud Flanagan warbles a defiant little ditty.
Over in Dubai, meanwhile, they don’t really have to worry about the weather. “Is it just me or have we been experiencing an unseasonably different shade of blue sky these past four months?”
The sun-soaked emirate plays host to the European Tour’s money-drenched DP World Tour Championship this week.
For Keith Pelley, the new chief executive of the European Tour, it will be a week in which he can make a real statement of intent. The Canadian is set to deliver a kind of state of the nation address about the circuit and its future, with a number of tweaks, overhauls and shake-ups in the pipeline.
Since taking up his post about four months ago, the Canadian has not had much time to ease himself into the hot seat. There have been plenty of affairs to deal with, of course. He made the decision – an entirely sensible one too it has to be said - to allow Rory McIlroy, the European Tour’s most marketable force, to participate in the Race to Dubai despite the Northern Irishman not fulfilling the minimum number of events due to his rehabilitation from injury.
There was the baffling incident with Ian Poulter, whose eligibility for the 2016 Ryder Cup was only saved when Rich Beem generously gave up his own invitation to the Hong Kong Open at the last minute and allowed Poulter to fulfil his playing requirements (as it later transpired, Poulter would have fulfilled them eventually but it shouldn’t have been such a palaver in the first place).
Pelley has also seen Paul Casey, whose career has been galvanised on the PGA Tour, essentially rule himself out of Ryder Cup consideration by stating that he may not rejoin the European scene. Meanwhile, the recent purchase of Wentworth, the plush estate where the European Tour is billeted, and the desires of its Chinese owners for it to become a sanctuary for the astonishingly wealthy – yes, even more wealthy than Jimmy Tarbuck and Brucie - could create something of a tricky PR scenario for a tour keen on fostering and growing the game at all levels.
Pelley is a savvy character, though, and the talk of the steamie is that his main facelift will be reducing the number of events required for tour membership from its current number of 13. The suggestion is that the majors and the WGC tournaments would not be included and players would be required to contest five standard European events, such as national Opens.
For those in the world’s top 50, with dual membership of the European and PGA Tours, it would be an extremely inviting olive branch. There are plenty of lucrative European Tour events away from the majors and WGCs – Abu Dhabi, Dubai, an Irish, French or Scottish Open – to build a schedule around.
The migration and talent drain of players from Europe to the US has been a concern for many a year. However, in these times of ‘independent contractors’, when players in the upper echelons can dip their bread in a variety of gravy boats when and where they like, maintaining a ‘them and us’ policy would be counter-productive.
“We no longer have European Tour players and PGA Tour players,” said Pelley. “We have global players.”
The likes of Jordan Spieth, who recently announced that he will make his first appearance in a regular European Tour tournament in January’s Abu Dhabi Golf Champions event, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed have all expressed an enthusiasm to travel and are willing to venture outwith the boundaries of the PGA Tour. Enticing some of the hottest properties on the American scene to take up European Tour membership, while making it easier for the European campaigners who carry the flag on the world stage to maintain strong roots with the tour that helped them blossom, is a formula that would reap considerable rewards. Less could really mean more.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here