"How do you keep your boys down on the farm, now that they've seen Moline?"

Mike Purkey says the European Tour should insist its Ryder Cup wannabes play at least half their schedule in Europe to strengthen the European Tour and tell us just how much some players really love the Cup. As if they aren't bickering amongst themselves enough already!

Comments

[smails]

Mike-newsflash--the US Tour pays better than the european tour--and the payday at the Ryder Cup is---ZERO.

[Wisconsin Reader]

Geez . . . Just when I was celebrating the Ryder Cup being over - for 2 years! . . . So I understand this issue . . . European players are supposed to play "their tour" more often and play the American tour less to demonstrate their love for their Ryder Cup team? . . . And most of us thought the American "War by the shore types" were the phony patriotism nut jobs? . . . Luke Donald should now give up $5 million for his . . . Ryder Cup team?

[Scott]

1 broken link, 1 restricted link.

[Press Agent]

uhm, didn't the soon to be number 1 in the world just announce he's not interested in keeping a U.S. tour card? This is happening on it's own, tour officials don't need to ask the players to do this. There are only a few meaningful events on U.S. soil, the rest, don't really matter at all.

[Scott]

The point isn't what Lee "soon to be No. 1" Westwood is doing. The point is that several top European golfers basically thumbed their noses at Ryder Cup qualifying this year, a public repudiation not only of the European Tour events they skipped, but indeed, the Ryder Cup itself. That golden chalice Europeans worship so much.

As for Westwood, who cares where he plays. He certainly won't be missed in America. He's already proven he cannot and never will dominate on U.S. soil. He can only win here if someone else holding the lead gets struck by lightning on the 18th green.

[Tom]

I sympathize with the ET's problems. But Smails and WR are on target, the best thing the ET could do to retain its own is to bring much better purses to their tournaments. They know it but it's not easy, and where they have been successful is not even in Europe but in Asia. Whereas, something like the Austrian Open has become practically an embarrassment. PGAT's Reno-Tahoe tournament, that couldn't even fill its field this year, had a purse that would have been around the median on the ET. So, when it is said that "there are only a few meaningful events on US soil," maybe but to a pro playing for money there are even fewer on the ET.

Westwood is not the new norm for European stars, for whatever reason he has never shown much interest in PGAT that I can remember. His current attitude is nothing new.

[John]

Purkey's off base here. The PGA Tour has tried it's best to minimize the Ryder Cup by their FedEx Cup scheduling. 3 of the 4 majors, and all of the WGC events are in the US. Why? Because our pros won't travel, and the PGA Tour threw it's weight around with the WGC. Yet Purkey holds this against the European pros. Ridiculous.

[smails]

WGCs are here because the $$$$ is here. we tried to play them abroad-nobody would sponsor them

[easy 3 putt]

in order to put the european tour's efforts in relativity to see europeant players more often on home soil:

anyone from the us who is frolicking these attempts now remembers the big outcry (from the uspga tour and from other players alike) when in january/february some us players came over to the gulf swing skipping some tournaments on the west coast?

and does anyone remember the pga tour's initiative of "designated tournaments" or how you'd call this thing?

i think this is generally called trying to protect one's brand and attractiveness. nothing wrong with that in my opinion...

[Hawkeye]

Smails, nobody would sponsor them because the US players are like a bag or prawns on a hot Sunday - they don't travel well.
Not that it's much of a stretch to get to 13 Euro events. Play the majors and the WGC's, that's seven. Add the three in the gulf + the Scottish Open and the final event in Dubai, and you've got one more event to find somewhere on the schedule to fulfil the requirements.