Paul McGinley says criticism aimed at the DP World Tour for seemingly taking a back seat to the PGA Tour in their “strategic alliance” is “not deserving and it hurts”.
The strategic alliance between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour is seen by many as just a way of fighting off the advances made by LIV Golf in terms of taking players and perhaps more importantly eyeballs and sponsorship away from the main Tours.
A newer, stronger alliance was decided in June, with 10 DP World Tour players earning PGA Tour cards each year, a guaranteed increase in prize money in Europe and formal routes from Australia and South Africa to the DP World Tour.
Three co-sanctioned events including the Genesis Scottish Open were also agreed upon, along with the PGA Tour taking a larger stake in European Tour productions and the commissioner Jay Monahan joining the Wentworth board.
Former Ryder Cup captain McGinley is also a DP World Tour board member, and is fed up of accusations that the European side of things is now just becoming a feeder tour for the larger American outfit.
McGinley says they are merely dealing as best they can with the fact that the American market is so much bigger, and says criticism of the DP World Tour is unjustified.
“The comparison back to the good old days of Seve (Ballesteros) and (Bernhard) Langer is very unfair because the dynamics of golf have changed and the European market is totally dwarfed by the American market,” McGinley told The Times.
“Playing schedules have changed and we are working with cards that have been played with us. There are some very clever business people on that board - I don’t mean me - and to be dismissed so easily as making stupid decisions is disrespectful. It’s not deserving and it hurts.”
A lot of factors went into this decision with many dynamics at play, not just LIV, the need for a new linked eco system has been coming and is a natural evolution in todays golfing landscape https://t.co/boMKRitGRgJune 28, 2022
Many say the new alliance will result in European events seeing even less of the top stars in golf, but Rory McIlroy is among those backing the move, and he says that 2023 will be more of a bridge year with 2024 seeing a bigger change.
"I think that's [2024] when you're going to start to see the benefits of this partnership," said McIlroy.
"There's a lot of moving parts to this. I think by giving everyone 15 months to get their head around it and put their heads together and come up with what I think is going to be an unbelievable calendar for golf in 2024, I think that's a great thing."
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