European Tour To Unveil Shot Clock At '18 Austrian Open

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Alasdair Reid reports for The Times that a shot clock will be part of next June's Austrian Open, replete with group referees, 40 second limits and one-shot penalties.

Reid says European Tour tournament committee member David Howell supports the idea but is concerned that we won't see great recovery shots if this became a regular practice. However, Howell says the committee signed off because the event in question can have its field size reduced.

“We’ve discussed it and agreed it should take place,” Howell said. “Among the committee, we think it’s worthwhile trialling that week in those specific circumstances. The field is not the strongest so it can be shortened without doing anyone too much harm. That allows the opportunity to get around quickly, so that’s why it is that week.”

Still The Best Grow The Game Gimmick, Pro Golf Edition: KLM & European Tour's Beat The Pros

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It was great last year when KLM and the European Tour played up this Thursday-Saturday gimmick and it remains a great way to attract eyeballs and interest on days not called Sunday. The concept is simple: hit your ball inside the pros at the 14th hole and earn a nice pair of flight tickets from KLM.

Though the reaction of the pros who got beat by Dutch amateur Lauren Hillebrand, a repeat winner, was a tad awkward:


The pros had more fun almost getting beat by sweet-swinging 8-year-old Tom Hendricks:

He may not have won #BeatThePro but eight year old Tom Hendricks certainly won over the crowd at the #KLMOpen today.

A post shared by European Tour (@europeantour) on


And check out 11-year old Matthias Henke beating Chris Wood and Max Albertus.

Now I know this shouldn't become a weekly thing on tours as it'd lose some luster. But at the occasional LPGA, PGA Tour Champions and yes, PGA Tour event, this would be a fun gimmick to employ for a little free press.

We Can Find Things Again! European Tour Restores Old Website!

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The information-light, purportedly-young people friendly revamp of the European Tour's website is no more after earning universally loathsome reviews.

In an open letter complete with the file photo  PelleyModeratelySomber_RedGlasses_4.jpg, Chief Executive Keith Pelley chalked the change up to technical issues and fan input.

I was hopeful the technical issues we faced were behind us, but having monitored our website and app closely they are clearly not, which is why we have taken action.

You, the fans, are vitally important to the European Tour and our players. I want to make your experience – whether in person at our tournaments or on-line – the best it can possibly be.

We have listened to your feedback and we appreciate all of you who took the time to contact us. We took that very much into consideration when taking this step.

You should know we will continue to work behind the scenes, reviewing the future direction of our website and app, but nothing will be done until we are 100% confident, both from a technical and a design perspective

Here it is folks...rejoice! The site we thought worked fine is back:

BMW PGA Announces Move To September Before Ink Is Dry On PGA Move To May Deal!

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Pelley!

Wasting little time...about 10 minutes to be exact...the European Tour announced a shift in the BMW PGA Championship's date to September.

I'd give then an "8" for passive aggressiveness, even this could end up being a great switch.

With the PGA Championship moving to May and the Players to March, the European Tour immediately seized on the likely shortening of the PGA Tour playoff season to push their marquee event into a month where the field stands to improve. Furthermore, the European Tour's Race To Dubai should also benefit from the U.S. calendar changes.

More on the PGA move to May later, as we learned a few fun things in today's press conference that I'm writing about for Golfweek. In the mean time, for immediate release... 

The European Tour today announces that the BMW PGA Championship will move from its current date in May to a new September slot from the 2019 season onwards.

The prestigious Championship, which is part of the European Tour’s Rolex Series, will be played at Wentworth Club from May 24-27, 2018, before moving to September for its 65th anniversary edition the following year.

The move comes following news announced earlier today that the 2019 US PGA Championship will move from its traditional August date into May, with The Players Championship on the PGA Tour moving from May to March.

The specific date of the 2019 BMW PGA Championship will be released in due course but it will be central to a strong and robust end of season schedule on the European Tour.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “Significant changes to the global golfing calendar have given us the opportunity to move the BMW PGA Championship to a more favourable date from 2019 onwards.

“Wentworth Club is an iconic location in the realm of British sport and the BMW PGA Championship is always hugely popular with the public as was seen in May when it launched our Rolex Series with 110,000 spectators in attendance over the course of the week.

“This is a new chapter for the event but we expect similar interest in the autumn, as was shown historically by the World Match Play Championship when it was played at Wentworth Club at that time of the year.”

The BMW PGA Championship was the first of eight Rolex Series events to be played on the European Tour’s International Schedule in 2017, all of which are part of the Race to Dubai. Sweden’s Alex Noren claimed the title in May, overturning a seven shot deficit with a stunning final round of 62 to win by two strokes over the West Course, which had undergone a multi-million pound revamp in the period between the 2016 and 2017 Championships.

Noren joined an illustrious Roll of Honour for the Championship which includes Seve Ballesteros, Arnold Palmer, Tony Jacklin, Sir Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, José María Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie, Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy.

Rolex Effect? European Tour On Ranking Points Streak

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Alex Miceli at MorningRead.com suggests we're seeing the first sign of success for European Tour Chief Keith Pelley's Rolex Series, with the three lead-up events to The Open offering more world ranking points than their PGA Tour counterparts.

Miceli writes:

Not since 2010, when the European Tour’s BMW International Open offered the same ranking points as the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour, followed by France and Scotland outpointing AT&T National and John Deere, has Europe proved to be a better draw than America.

The Rolex Series, which consists of eight lucrative events offering purses of at least $7 million throughout the European Tour season, has allowed Keith Pelley, the tour’s chief executive officer, to create an environment in which European players want to return home to compete.

“There's no question Rolex has come in and has allowed us to elevate the tournaments,” Pelley said of the Swiss watchmaker’s sponsorship. “As the title partner of the Rolex Series, they believed in the vision … but what we have invested in the infrastructure to make it a much stronger and a better tournament.” 

Here were the points breakdown on fields for those events:

HNA Open De France 270 vs Quickens Loans National 229
Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 288 vs Greenbrier Classic 174
AAM Scottish Open 342 vs  John Deere Classic 140

In another nice sign for the tour's ability to intrigue players to tee it up more often, Pat Perez has joined the tour after rising to 42nd in the world ranking, joining Kevin Na and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara in taking up similar affiliate memberships with the European Tour this season.

Perez said: “It’s probably the first time I have been in a position to do become a European Tour member in my career. I’ve always stayed in the US. So I figured, after I won and got to the top 50 in the world, I might try and travel a bit and see some new parts of the world and play against other great players. I wanted to play the European Tour and become more of a global player.

“I am going to try and broaden my horizons, go to places such as Dubai and Malaysia, and see where I fall."

Gilbert Rules Out Trump Aberdeen For Scottish Open, Kicks Open The Door To Cruden Bay For 2019!

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Though it was looking likely that Trump International Aberdeen would land the 2019 Scottish Open due to its proximity to sponsor Aberdeen Asset Management headquarters, CEO Martin Gilbert has all but ruled it out due to

From Martin Dempster's Scotsman report:

“Politics aside, Trump would be an ideal venue, but you can’t put politics aside. That is the issue so we will wait and see.”

Turnberry, which Trump also owns, is currently waiting to find out when it will stage a future Open Championship, with the R&A likely to wait until his term as US President comes to an end before making that decision.

Trump has made no secret of the fact that he’d like to see an event like the Scottish Open staged at his highly-acclaimed Menie Estate course. “The Scottish Open is coming,” he declared during a visit two years ago. “The Scottish Open wants to be here forever, they think this is the best course they’ve ever seen.”

Even more exciting was Gilbert's revelation that European Tour officials have scouted out Cruden Bay and, with a few alterations, believe it can be made to work. Gilbert said the the course would not sport the 14th and 15th holes and their blind shots, and might be replaced by by Old Tom Morris designed holes on the club's St Olaf course.

While former host Royal Aberdeen is a candidate, Gilbert made clear that an all-men's club course would not happen. The Scottish Open venue now annually hosts both the men's and women's editions of the event. In hearing him speak to a small group of press today, I can attest to his enthusiasm for Cruden Bay as an acceptable solution.

Given that it's one my favorite courses on the planet, I concur, as long as modifications for the tournament do not change the course's character. (Recent changes to the 9th by Tom Mackenzie improved one of the weakest holes there.)

“Politics aside, Trump would be an ideal venue, but you can’t put politics aside. That is the issue so we will wait and see.” Turnberry, which Trump also owns, is currently waiting to find out when it will stage a future Open Championship, with the R&A likely to wait until his term as US President comes to an end before making that decision. Trump has made no secret of the fact that he’d like to see an event like the Scottish Open staged at his highly-acclaimed Menie Estate course. “The Scottish Open is coming,” he declared during a visit two years ago. “The Scottish Open wants to be here forever, they think this is the best course they’ve ever seen.”

Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/golf/donald-trump-s-aberdeen-course-ruled-out-for-2019-scottish-open-1-4503898
“Politics aside, Trump would be an ideal venue, but you can’t put politics aside. That is the issue so we will wait and see.” Turnberry, which Trump also owns, is currently waiting to find out when it will stage a future Open Championship, with the R&A likely to wait until his term as US President comes to an end before making that decision. Trump has made no secret of the fact that he’d like to see an event like the Scottish Open staged at his highly-acclaimed Menie Estate course. “The Scottish Open is coming,” he declared during a visit two years ago. “The Scottish Open wants to be here forever, they think this is the best course they’ve ever seen.”

Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/golf/donald-trump-s-aberdeen-course-ruled-out-for-2019-scottish-open-1-4503898

Scottish Open: Dundonald Links Flyover 1 to 18

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I won't lie: Dundonald has not been the most exciting Scottish Open venue in recent years. Granted, Gullane, Royal Aberdeen and Castle Stuart are very special places on name alone.

But after watching this Dundonald Links flyover from the first to the last, I'm much more excited about seeing this week's Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open. As we discussed on Morning Drive today, no tournament has made a faster rise over the last few years than this one thanks to a combination of sponsor, quality venues and younger players getting over their links antipathy (and a few older ones like Phil and Henrik showing this can be a great pre-Open prep).

I arrive Thursday to take in the action and as you know by now, this is a Golf Channel and NBC combo platter, with GC coverage starting at 5:30 am ET Thursday. Weekend coverage by NBC starts at 12:30 PM ET.

The flyovers:

 

Rahm Wins Irish Open, Lexi Rule Surfaces Too

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After a temperamental U.S. Open, Jon Rahm once again showed he can put rough weeks behind him by dominating the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

This quote from Alistair Tait's Golfweek account suggests someone is very confident heading into The Open, and his updated odds reflect similar confidence from punters.

“That makes two for two, shooting 65 in the final round,” Rahm said. “Obviously, it’s a very different tournament here for me. I’ve been saying I haven’t played my best golf, and today, for 15 holes, I played the best golf I can ever play on the golf course with the weather that we had. Obviously, the bonus of holing out on four was great, but man, this is a nice feeling.”

The round was highlighted by a hole-out at the fourth.

As for the ball mark issue and changes in the rules, here is Tait's account with this from rules official Andy McFee on why the rules are more forgiving:

“One of the points in the new decision is that the outcome depends a lot on what the player says and his explanation of the events,” McFee said. “Jon said: ‘I knew I marked it to the side and then I was trying to make an effort to put it back to the side.’ He’s definitely made the effort.

“We’re talking about the difference between the ball being lifted at 10 o’clock on the ball marker and put back at 11 o’clock which is not a problem.

“The new decision the R&A and USGA crafted, with the full knowledge from the PGA Tour and ourselves, is all about trying to eliminate these fine margins and get to a position where if a player has made a reasonable judgement then the game will accept it if it’s slightly wrong.

This screen grab shows his ball was closer to the hole and not in the same location:

In other news, the Irish Open will again play at a links next year, heading to the newer of two courses at Ballyliffin. Liam Kelly reports.

More On Portstewart's Distinctly Different Nines

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With extensive coverage of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, I'm sure we'll get to see much of Portstewart.

The aerials are stunning.

But in case you are watching and wondering more about the course, Alistair Tait at Golfweek has some observations from on site.

In particular, the front nine features the more dramatic dunesland and re-routings were even considered to showcase those holes more. Tait explains:

While Portstewart’s closing holes are well situated for tournament play, Moss said other routings were considered that would have given more television airtime to the Strand’s jaw-dropping front nine, which begins with that opening tee shot played from a seaside bluff.

In 1981 the club acquired some dramatic dunesland, and five years later it developed seven new holes, which became Nos. 2-8 on the Strand. Those holes were a big factor in making Portstewart a must-play for international visitors.

“Building those holes changed the whole dynamic of Portstewart Golf Club, because this was really dune country,” Moss said.

Video: Mother Of European Tour Player Wades Into Murky Water In Attempt To Retrieve Son's Club

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This is all-timer! The mother of 21-year-old Haotong Li waded into a less than inviting Le Golf National lake in an attempt to retrieve the club her son had thrown into the lake.

The world No. 129's mother set her purse and phone down on a nearby railroad tie, went inside the ropes and attempted the rescue effort as the star threesome of Tyrrell Hatton, Thomas Pieters and Alex Noren were attempting to play the hole where .

Eventually mom did reach the floating club in question, only to find that her son had broken the dastardly weapon. Her dropping of the grip end back into the lake is a particularly special touch that turned the laughter to all-out hysterics for the group.

With Twitter video embeds iffy these days, here's the Instagram version:

Even the players had to laugh 😂⠀ #HNAOpenDeFrance #RolexSeries

A post shared by European Tour (@europeantour) on Jun 29, 2017 at 6:56am PDT

 Hatton took to Twitter after, clearly still enjoying the interruption:

Guardian: Trump Aberdeen Is Likely 2019 Scottish Open Venue

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The Guardian's Ewan Murray reports exclusively that the European Tour has been making visits to Trump International Golf Links (Aberdeen) and appears set to rekindle a partnership that almost happened a few years ago (Telegraph/Corrigan).

The stars are aligning for the venue plagued by protests and other sagas since its inception, and even once thought to be hosting three Scottish Opens. Things changed when now-President Donald Trump made comments on the campaign trail.

Murray notes this as a key reason this may happen:

Martin Gilbert, Aberdeen Asset’s co-founder and chief executive, is close enough to Trump to have attended the president’s inauguration in January. With the Scottish Open broadcast live on the other side of the Atlantic, there is a growing link between the tournament and the United States.

Any such move would, however, be highly controversial. Among those who would need to be happy about it are Rolex, who have included the Scottish Open in their new and enhanced series on the European Tour. The Scottish government is also a partner in the tournament but did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment regarding it being held at Trump International.

It's a partnership that makes obvious sense for Aberdeen Asset, especially if Royal Aberdeen is believed to be lukewarm on hosting again. However, of greater concern is the sheer difficulty of Trump International and how that aligns with former Commissioner George O'Grady's desire to play the Scottish Open on a fun, not-excessively difficult links test the week prior to The Open.

Last week, Gullane was announced as the 2018 Scottish Open(s) host.

Gullane Gets Return Engagement For Scottish Open(s)

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There will be no excuses next year when the men can tee it up at Gullane, then drive a short ways to Carnoustie for The Open Championship.

The 2018 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open's are headed back to Gullane, a first for the women. Rickie Fowler took the men's edition at the historic links in 2015.

Some images from day one and the week at Gullane.

For Immediate Release...

The Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open will return to East Lothian next year when Gullane Golf Club hosts Scotland’s National Open for the second time from July 12-15, 2018.

 This will be followed two weeks later by the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open played over the same course from July 26-29, 2018.

 In 2015 the picturesque links course was the venue for Rickie Fowler’s thrilling win on the European Tour, as the American birdied three of the last four holes to surge past Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Kuchar and Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin and seal his maiden European Tour title.

This year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Dundonald Links in North Ayrshire will be the biggest yet, as it forms part of European Tour’s new Rolex Series, comprising eight of the premium tournaments on the Race to Dubai, each with a minimum prize fund of US$7million.

Some of the finest courses in Scotland, the Home of Golf, have played host to the tournament over the years, including St Andrews, Gleneagles and Carnoustie. From 1996 to 2010 it was based at Loch Lomond Golf Club, with Castle Stuart Golf Links in Inverness, Royal Aberdeen and Gullane all enjoying hosting duties since then.

In addition, golf fans in Ayrshire can now look forward to more memorable moments in the company of many of the world’s best female golfers, with this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open at Dundonald Links now co-sanctioned by both the LET and LPGA for the first time.  

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management said: “We had a great tournament with a great winner in Rickie at Gullane in 2015 and we anticipate equally worthy winners of the men’s and ladies editions this year at Dundonald.

“Both events are amongst the most highly regarded on their respective Tours and have become sought after fixtures ahead of both the Men’s and Ladies ‘Open Championships.’ Gullane is a spectacular course and together with our tournament partners we will continue to host our events at the best possible venues which showcase Scotland in all its glory to an ever increasing global TV audience.”

Paul Bush, Director of Events with VisitScotland, said: “Gullane Golf Club is home to three of Scotland’s finest links courses and will provide an outstanding venue for both the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and Ladies Scottish Open in 2018. With strong men’s, ladies and junior sections it is the epitome of a traditional Scottish golf club at the heart of the local community and I am delighted it will once again get the opportunity to welcome the world’s best players to East Lothian. We are proud to have so many world-class venues in Scotland, the Home of Golf and I look forward to two more successful events in East Lothian in 2018.”

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “We’re delighted to be returning to Gullane Golf Club next year, at an exciting time in the history of the tournament.

“As we return to this wonderful setting we know that we can expect enthusiastic support from Gullane Golf Club, the golf community in East Lothian and our partners and stakeholders, as we plan for another exciting festival of golf.”

In a joint statement, LET Chief Executive Ivan Khodabakhsh and LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan commented: “Aberdeen Asset Management and Visit Scotland have done an excellent job of elevating this tournament for both Tours and we are both very proud, together with our Members, to be their partners. Their strategy of playing two weeks after the men’s Scottish Open and providing the best female golfers from both Tours the ability to play in Scotland the week before the RICOH Women’s British Open is extremely positive for our Members.”