Former Ryder Cup winning Captain Paul McGinley believes the DP World Tour is in the best shape it’s ever been despite uncertainties about the future of the professional game.
The DP World Tour are currently involved with talks with the PGA and Public Investment Fund (PIF) after the trio announced a framework agreement last June, promising to unify the game of golf, on a global basis.
The announcement was followed by a mutually agreed end to all pending litigation between the participating parties, while the three organisations ensured they would work “cooperatively” and in “good faith” to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to re-apply for membership with the PGA TOUR or the DP World Tour.
Talks remain ongoing to come to an agreement, with board members and players from the PGA Tour meeting PIF representatives recently in the Bahamas to talk through the deal.
No DP World Tour representatives were reported to be present at the talks, leaving many to ask where the European circuit sits in all of this.
The DP World Tour is currently tied to a ‘Strategic Alliance’ with the PGA Tour, which has allowed the Tour to guarantee prize funds while also creating a formal pathway to the PGA Tour, with the top ten players on the Race to Dubai, who are not already members, receiving PGA Tour playing privileges.
That pathway has also led to plenty of talk of the DP World Tour weakening their product each year, while some have even labelled the circuit the ‘official feeder tour’ to the PGA Tour.
McGinley, who was part of the DP World Tour Board when the Strategic Alliance was agreed, strongly disagrees and believes golf in Europe is in a good place.
“The DP World Tour is in great shape, better than it has ever been before,” said the Irishman, who has just been announced as as an ambassador for the Legends Tour.
“The strategic alliance with the PGA Tour, which I was involved in carving out, is great for the long-term future of the DP World Tour with a realistic deal based on where the world is and where golf is, how players want to migrate to America.
“It also provides some great opportunities and great events for the other guys who are not going to go to America to play and sustain themselves on the DP World Tour.
“Then we have our lead events when the PGA Tour has finished in September, October - so I think the DP World Tour is in a very, very strong place. We have a guarantee and an underpin from the PGA Tour to keep record prize funds going forward for the next 12 years after this.
“That success has bled into the Challenge Tour and now into the Legends Tour. We should all benefit because the reason the DP World Tour is in the successful place that it is and why it could lever itself to get such a great deal with the PGA Tour is because of guys like Ian Woosnam, Darren Clarke, Paul Lawrie, myself and Thomas Björn and all the people who played the Tour and represented the Tour, played in Ryder Cup’s and raised the value of the Ryder Cup to a new level.
“We by right should benefit from the deal with the PGA Tour, not just the present guys – that money should also filter into the Legends Tour as well as the Challenge Tour.
“It's an opportunity to spread the love and a lot of guys who are on the Legends Tour now were responsible for the growth and success that the Ryder Cup and DP World Tour has had in the last 20 years.”
