Stenson: European Tour ‘stamping down’ on Premier Golf League talk

A theme of this week has been the PGA Tour players’ ability to read their emails, even when it’s from their commissioner.

Jay Monahan sent out a message to all of his members saying that the PGA Tour players would not be allowed to be a part of any breakaway tour by the Premier Golf League and the likes of Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson admitted they had yet to get round to reading it.

Or, as likely, didn’t want to get sucked into answering too many questions about the possibility of a new breakaway tour which would incorporate 48 elite players in 18 54-hole tournaments for a £7.5 million purse each week, as well as a team element to the whole thing.

Now though, thanks to Henrik Stenson opening up his messages, the European Tour’s CEO Keith Pelley has done the same to his members.

And with Stenson a member of both tours he was able to compare the two missives.

“Keith sent out a message either Wednesday or the day before and it was very similar to the email that Jay sent out,” Stenson told The Scotsman at the Saudi International.

“They were very similar and, without going into details, you could kind of sense or feel that the two might have talked to each other.”

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As for the tone, was it more to the point rather than a polite word?

“It was a bit of both, I’d say. Probably more towards stamping down that not. I obviously know what everybody else has seen and read and it seems to be both exciting and turbulent a little bit at the moment.

“It is still early. I don’t think everything has been put on the table from every person or entity involved. It depends on where you are coming from as well. We’ve got a lot of different angles – we’ve got fans, we’ve got sponsors, we’ve got TV viewers, we’ve got players, we’ve got promoters. We are all in this together and the best way going forward would be to try and find a solution where everyone can benefit.”

In the pro-am on Wednesday Phil Mickelson played with some of the key figures of the proposed tour and, while he was still getting his head round the idea, he admitted that it had been “fascinating” to hear their plans.

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