Kansas City
Debate about the immediate future prospects of the Ryder Cup continues to rage in the golf world, with the authorities and stars of the sport conflicted about the idea of playing the biennial match behind closed doors.
The PGA Tour remains committed to a return to action in June with the first four tournaments scheduled to be played in front of no spectators, but the notion of golf’s most raucous event following suit has appalled many, for whom it is close to sacrilege. However, dark financial shadows hang over the sport and these might force the hand of organisers.
Perhaps the most compelling of these complications is the brutal fact that the European Tour is to a large degree bank-rolled by the Ryder Cup; the revenue it creates being vital to the on-going viability of the Tour.
Federico Chiesa Expected To Make Juventus Move, According To Fiorentina President Rocco Commisso European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley is wrestling with many problems at the moment, not least the widespread loss of many tournaments, and, unlike PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, he has opted not to reveal plans for a return to action, preferring a patient policy to a forcing one. But he is well aware that the Ryder Cup will be a vital tool in the rebuilding of the Tour’s finances. If it is played this year it will provide an income of some sort; on the other hand a delayed edition would hopefully include full spectator and corporate income which a restricted version this year might not.
The 2020 match is set to be hosted by Whistling Straits (September 25-27), an American home tie therefore, so not the bounty of a European-hosted event, but perhaps the potential delay of the next home match is another idea fraught with difficulty for the Europeans.
All of these considerations will be causing significant headaches at the Tour’s Wentworth base, but none of it has quelled the speculation.
‘I have a pretty strong view on this,’ world number one Rory McIlroy insisted in an Instagram Live event with his sponsor TaylorMade.
‘I get the financial implications for everyone involved. There’s a lot that goes into putting on the Ryder Cup that people don’t probably know or appreciate, but having a Ryder Cup without fans is not a Ryder Cup.—Agencies
