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In order to avoid threadjacking the "Key to U.S. Ryder Cup Win" thread, I am starting this one. My intent is not to inflame or criticize, but to have questions answered in a civil and intelligent manner, as I know we are all capable of doing. On to the subject at hand!

Does the European Tour need a lesson in geography, since so much of it is not really played in "Europe", the continent. Looking at the Euro and Asian Tour schedules side by side, it isn't really a "European Tour", it is more like the "Eurasian Tour". Throw in the African stops, and it is the "EurAfroAsian Tour".

Excluding WGC events and The Open, the PGA Tour plays in the U.S. except for one stop in Canada for the Canadian Open. The Asian Tour tends to be true to their name and for the most part play all their tourneys within their region, except for the majors,WGC events, and one stop down under for the Johnnie Walker Classic.

So, why do the Euros have to include Asian stops as part of their tour? Not enough quality venues in Europe? Lack of interest throughout much of the continent, resulting in lack of sponsorship? Are these events co-sponsored by the 2 Tours just so they can muster up a competitive field? Or is it simply that in order to start their tour in November and play through the European winter months, they have to go outside of Europe? These are honest questions that I would appreciate honest answers to, if anyone knows the answers. I'm always up for increasing my knowledge of how things are done around the world.

Europe between October and March is not a reliable place to play golf. European golfers used to play an African leg of the tour before weather improved in Europe.This week the European Tour finally hits Europe, with the Cadiz Open in Southern Spain.

(VJ 's first win was the Kenyan Open)

Now the European CO sanctions events in the southern hemisphere and Far East to provide those players not welcome on USPGA Tour with a living fron November to MArch , while helping deveop the strength of the other tours in China,FAr East and Southern hemisphere. Becvause European Tour does not bully boy other tours and looks at the benefits to everyone, not just themselves, it works.

Call it what you like,but it is successfull.

Ironically, the only time Europe is exclusive is the picking of th eRyder Cup team, otherwise members of the European Tour such as Ernie,VJ,Retief, Apples etc could be included. It is one sided enough with just the Europeans in there.

These far east tournaments are co-sanctioned events between Euro and Asian tours. I think they're good for the Asian Tour players as it gives them a chance to get onto the Euro Tour.

It's generally the weather and also many of the sponsors are well represented in what used to be the pink sections of the world map such as Australia, New Zealand and SA.

Excluding USA and Canada

I assure you. There are enough quality venues in Ireland the UK alone to have a top Euro tour event every week.
By the way, Ireland has the highest number of golf courses per head of population of any country anwhere. Interesting fact.

Lack of sponsorship is not really an issue, given that the money goes well down, when the events are outside Europe.
Competitive field. That depends on your definition of competitive. Even when they play in co-sactioned events, the best players are still the European Tour players, not the Asian players.


Yes, the weather plays a big part.

Another point is that the European Tour competing in places like Asia, means the best Asian players play there. These co-sactioned events have much higher prize money than regular Asian events, and so attract the very top Asian players. That also gives these players the opportunity to qualify for the European Tour which enhances the overall quality.

The European Tour is doing the best it can to build up larger prize funds, which ultimately is what will entice the best players into the events.

Some of the decisions the ET is making - like taking the Tour to Asia, is playing a longer game. Getting the Asian market and Asian sponsors into the game will ultimately build fanbase, TV audience, and sponsor interest. It does take time though.

Things could change really quickly if, say HSBC or some of the big Asian companies stumped up $7-8 million an event for the biggest ET events. Not saying this is going to happen, BTW, it is unlikely to say the least. However the HSBC Champions Trophy in Shanghai was a new event with an instant purse of $5M+, so there is precedent. This is the one that Tiger played in.

So to suggest that the ET is not doing anything to try and compete is untrue. But the US Tour is a juggernaut that probably cannot ever be stopped.

What is your proposal? Do you think the European Tour should cut it's season, and not bother at winter, because playing during the winter is not feasible.

That's not completely true. Plenty of top pros, have dual membership, including Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
The only ones that seem to have an allergy to the European Tour are American players. From other countries, plenty play on the European Tour or both.
It is the US players refusal to travel, that makes the uspga the clear number 1. I believe that the US dominance in golf is going to fade in the next few years, and that would lessen it dominance. However it would still be the best tour.

Castono Gonzalo. If Monty is in contention, there is a pretty good chance that I'll be watching it.

The European Tour has plenty of high profile events.
You were earlier knocking the events outside Europe but:
- Tiger played in China in a Euro Tour event. I think Vijay and others were there.
- Tiger played in the Middle East, at Dubai, another co-sanctioned event. He beat Ernie Els in a playoff. Who won that week on the pga tour?
- The early season events will be a little sparse of strength in depth. However the European Tour is back in Europe, so the bigger events are coming.

That's not an issue. The epga don't and wouldn't schedule any big events opposite big uspga events.

Say what you want about Tiger, but Vijay and Ernie and full European Tour members and are required to play a minimum of 11 events, which they very willingly do.
It would be easy for them to play the pga tour and still take the odd appearance fee like Tiger does, but they choose to be members of the European Tour because they rate it and want to be a part of it.
You can also be sure that Ernie is very proud of his 2 Order of Merit titles and should be a strong contender again this time round.

You raise some good points as to why American's would bother with European events. However my substantive point remains true:
Apart from the Americans, the European Tour is very popular among the top players.

For the world rankings, the top 20 players:
- 7 are from the USA and none are members of the European Tour.
- of the other 13, only 1, (rank number 16 Geoff Ogilvy) is not a member of the European Tour.

Surely that illustrates my point. There is only 1 non-USA player in the worlds top 20 who is not a member of the European Tour.That shows crystal clear, that the European Tour is very important for the non-USA players.


Who many Nationwide players are ranked in the top 20? If there were more, maybe it would be more interesting.

Vijay plays 278 events a year, so he has plenty of time for Euro events.

To help answer your question, so far Vijay has played 6 Euro events this season:
Masters Tournament 09 Apr 2006 8T -3 € 172996.14
WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship 26 Feb 2006 9T Par € 104989.08
The Commercialbank Qatar Masters 29 Jan 2006 24T -2 € 15701.17
Abu Dhabi Golf Championship 22 Jan 2006 8T -11 € 39163.93
HSBC Champions Tournament 13 Nov 2005 5T -13 € 164018.10
WGC - American Express Championship 09 Oct 2005 6T -5 € 155498.10

Your comparisons are completely off. I support America in most things.
However in golf, I do like to stand up for the European Tour, when people try to degrade it.