O'Grady: Euro Tour Developing Courses To Ensure Mundane Ryder Cup Venues Through End Of Century

Bloomberg news reports that:

"European Tour will buy or build golf courses to stage the Ryder Cup from 2018 to increase income from its most profitable event, chief executive George O'Grady has said."

The Tour has guaranteed that the matches, played alternately in the US and Europe every two years, will take place on mainland Europe from 2018 through 2030.

Here's your money quote...literally:

"In future, we'll either build courses ourselves or own them," the 57-year-old Englishman said. "We get cash from the Ryder Cup but we don't get a capital asset gain. In 2018 we'll own at least part of the venue."

Take that Tim Finchem!

Owning and operating the courses would allow the Tour to build and profit from onsite hotels, spas and other leisure facilities.

It could also develop and sell or rent private housing, while retaining income from club membership fees, conferences, exhibitions, retail and catering.

The owner of the K Club, which hosts this year's event, Michael Smurfit, said there's "no question or doubt" that the Ryder Cup has boosted the value of those assets.

The Tour doesn't own any of the K Club, the 2010 host the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales, or Scotland's Gleneagles, which will stage the 2014 contest.

Profit at this year's event may not reach the €14.8m it made four years ago because of extra security and other costs, Mr O'Grady said.

Tissue, anyone?

Revenue may rise to as much as €74m from €52m at the 2002 edition at the Belfry, Mr O'Grady said, declining to give his organisation's annual revenue.

The Tour retains 60pc of the profit, with the remainder split between the UK and European Professional Golfers' Associations.

The 2018 venue may be chosen by the last day of the 2010 edition, O'Grady said, giving the Tour enough time to build a new course if necessary.

"By then we reckon courses will need to be built in a certain way to take the number of spectators that will want to come," he said.

As opposed to now?

Comments

[Shaq Buddy]

If I was Tiger, I would ask for a percentage. They have ruined this event, why not let the pros make money?

[Glyn]

Seriously. It seems to have lost anything resembling a contest for the sake of the contest.

[Hawkeye]

Here's hoping they buy Royal County Down, Portmarnock or Ballybunion sometime in the near future. That would settle things.

[Smolmania]

What did you just write Hawkeye? You want the European Tour to purchase one of those courses? Those money-grubbing bastards are as bad as our mutts in Ponte Vedra.

Time for the players to step up and say no more. I know I'm beating this dead horse again, but team play every year is simply unfair to the U.S. team. If Mr. Ryder were around today to donate a cup and create a competition for teams of golfers, there would be no separate events for US v. Euro and US v. RoW. Everybody plays everybody, every other year. The $$ will be divided up among all of the participants, including the stars of the show, the players themselves. And what an event it would be. Adam Scott vs. Sergio. Ogilvy vs. Tiger. Els vs. Choi. Mickelson vs. Monty. Then mix it up, and do it again the next day.

This idea has a chance if IMG would take over. Are you listening Mark? You've got the star. He can make/force the change. What ratings. What buildup. What enormous amounts of cash to be generated. No more players sitting out. A 4 day event every other year will fit the schedules better.

[Hawkeye]

Don't worry, Smolmania, I'm just kidding.

[Hawkeye]

And by the way, as for your idea, Europeans think that it's kind of an honour to play for the flag, and would gladly do it once a year for free if given the opportunity.

[Glyn]

It is certainly an honor but it seems to have gone beyond that into a cash cow for some people and that is too bad.

[Smolmania]

I don't dispute that the European players clearly enjoy the event, perhaps in no small measure to the seeming anti-American fervor described in one of the other posts today. But the $$ generated by the Ryder or the President's Cup has nothing to do with the players. . . the PGA and European Tour split the pot for the Ryder, and our boys in PV saw that cash cow and created their own so they could make some dough.

I maintain that it would be a much better COMPETITION if we allowed the best players in the world to meet on the course, not dividing the world into Europe/RoW
/US. The only way that will occur is if (when?) the players wake up and realize that without them, there's no event. The $$ can be divided so that everybody's pockets will be filled, and the US players will only have to fulfill their "national" duties every other year.