Now is the time for the European Tour to reinvent its schedule

ERNIE ELS came in for a lot of stick last month when he chose to skip the Volvo Masters in order to play in the Singapore Open but it is debatable whether much of that criticism was fair.

It is true his decision to go to Singapore rather than Valderrama was an undeserved slap in the face from one of the European Tour’s most loyal sponsors. But it is hardly the South African’s fault that the tour switched the date of the Volvo event after he had signed up for Singapore, and it is certainly wrong to suggest that Els is anything other than a strong supporter of the tour on this side of the Atlantic.

Els is the archetypal international player but that did not stop him playing 18 European Tour events this season which compares favourably with Harrington (15) and Justin Rose (12), whose win at Valderrama enabled him to leapfrog Els and collect the Harry Vardon Trophy which is awarded annually to the golfer who heads the Order of Merit.

I would admit to feeling some considerable unease about a golfer being able to collect the Harry Vardon award after playing in so few counting events in Europe but there is little doubt Rose deserved his elevation to the tour’s No 1 spot after a remarkable 12 months during which he consistently performed well in the tournaments that matter most.

In other words, the events which carried the heftiest prize funds. The 27-year-old Englishman started the season with a win in the MasterCard Masters in Australia and then battled his way through to the quarter-finals of the WGC Matchplay in Arizona. That was the first of a succession of superb performances against some of the strongest fields in the game.

In the Majors, he managed a tie for fifth in the Masters, a tie for 10th in the US Open and ties for 12th in both The Open and the USPGA. He also finished second in the BMW PGA Championship and tied-second in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational before capping his remarkably consistent season with his win at Valderrama on what is undoubtedly one of the most demanding courses in the world Rose’s stellar performance provided a fitting finale to what has been an excellent 2007 season but I wonder if I am alone in believing the European Tour are now missing a trick by still finishing their annual schedule at the start of November.

The European Tour spends much of the year playing second fiddle to the PGA Tour in the States but, now that the Americans all but conclude their season with their Tour Championship in mid-October, there is a real opportunity for the European Tour – and its allies in Asia, Australasia, Japan and South Africa – to attract some of the top Americans to their tournaments.

In turn, this would hog the headlines for the remainder of the year and provide a fabulous climax to the European circuit.
I would be extremely loathe to compromise the position of a loyal and innovative sponsor such as Volvo but, if their wishes can be accommodated within the structure, I would like to see the European Tour season stretched right through to the start of December in warmer climes.

Once completed, in an ideal world all activities would then cease for a month or so to enable everyone connected with the game – players, administrators and fans alike – to have a well-earned rest ahead of the new year and a new season. There are strong rumours that the European Tour is about to announce a m limited field event to be staged in Dubai in December and I cannot help but think that it would be an ideal way to end the season in some style.

The schedule I have in mind would be similar to the one which exists at present but with one noticeable difference being that the tour would do away with the current – ludicrous to my mind – practice of concluding one season at the start of November and then starting the next a mere four days later. I will never be able to get my head round the tour starting its 2008 season in China at the start of last month.

However, I would have no problem at all if events like the HSBC Champions, the Singapore Open, the Casio World Open, the Sun City Million Dollar Challenge and the aforementioned tournament in Dubai were all incorporated into a lucrative end-of-season swing that would top anything the PGA Tour’s unglamorous Fall Finish can ever provide.

With its own misguided restructure, Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour has unwittingly given administrators elsewhere a great opportunity. It would be a real shame not to grasp it, not least because it would show the PGA Tour’s xenophobic chief Finchem and his arrogant cronies that they don’t always get things their own way.