These are great times for European golf. Last Sunday Northern Ireland-s Graeme McDowell became the first player from the old continent to win the US Open for 40 years, and the two tournaments contested so far in the World Golf Championship 2010 series were also claimed by professionals from the European Tour. Plus, there are now five Europeans in the top ten of the world rankings, the first time in history that Europe has been represented more strongly than the USA in the highest echelons of the sport.
However, just two years ago to the day there were only two Europeans among the world-s top ten players. And three years ago a European had yet to win a major tournament in the new millennium. The overriding feeling on the European Tour was one of unfulfilled talent and a hopeless inferiority vis-à-vis the USA – both as far as the players were concerned and in terms of the tournaments. Europe, it seemed, simply could not keep pace with the US PGA Tour and its lucrative market of golf-mad America.
Today the situation is very different. There are as many world ranking points up for grabs at the BMW International Open 2010 this weekend as in the Travelers Championship taking place concurrently in the USA – an indicator if ever there was one of the strength of the field at the tournament in Eichenried, near Munich. The number of points on offer at a tournament depends on the world rankings of the players competing in it.
“The European Tour is unbelievably strong at the moment,” confirms Ernie Els. The world number six is South African, of course, but he lives in Wentworth, England for most of the year and has remained loyal to the European Tour since 1992. “We can pick up a lot of points here and that-s why we also have so many players in the top 10, 20, 30 in the world rankings,” he explains.
In Eichenried superstar Els experienced first hand just how strong and hotly contested the European Tour has become; his two-under-par total of 142 for the first two rounds was not enough to make the cut. The South African will now begin preparations for the British Open – the next major on the calendar – at St. Andrews in three weeks- time. There the favourites for the title will again come from Europe. “I firmly believe that a European will win the Open this year,” said England-s Nick Dougherty, who won the BMW International Open in 2009.
For the European Tour, this current wave of success is vindication of its long-term strategy. For a number of years now it has been working with Tours in other continents and holds a large proportion of its tournaments in Asia, South Africa and Australia. All of which makes it very much a global competition.
BMW supports the European Tour to a greater extent than any other company – as the Official Car partner of the European Tour, as well as title sponsor and co-organiser of the BMW International Open, BMW PGA Championship and BMW Italian Open. The partnerships with the Tour, the BMW International Open and the BMW PGA Championship have just been extended for another four years, to 2014. “That gives us a huge amount of confidence moving forward,” said George O-Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, speaking in Eichenried.
An agreement has also recently been finalised securing the partnership between BMW and the Ryder Cup until 2014. European players traditionally perform extremely strongly in the Europe versus USA match, which takes place every two years. Indeed, Europe have won three of the four Ryder Cups played so far this millennium – despite frequently going into the event as underdogs.
However, the days of being outsiders for the title are over for now. This year the European team will approach the Ryder Cup – to be held at Celtic Manor in Wales from 1 – 3 October – as hot favourites under their Scottish captain Colin Montgomerie.