Keith Pelley keen to keep European Tour as 'breeding ground' for world stars

Keith Pelley insists the European Tour will continue to remain a “breeding ground” by trying to provide a healthy playing schedule for its rank-and-file members so that they can “chase the dream” of major glory.

Chief execuite Keith Pelley, right, has watched Tommy Fleetwood flourish on the European Tour and is keen to see lots of others do likewise in the future. Picture: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

The circuit’s new “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour has raised concern about what the future might hold for players sitting between 50th and 150th in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.

But, while the exact details of the link up between the game’s two main tours have still to be formulated in terms of scheduling, Pelley is adamant that it won’t have a detrimental effect on the European Tour.

“I think we will, absolutely,” said Pelley, speaking in a McKellar Golf podcast before the new deal with the PGA Tour was sealed, in reply to being asked if regular playing opportunities would continue to be provided for the rank-and-file European Tour players and up-and-coming stars on the Challenge Tour as part of the global landscape changing.

“In order for it to flourish, we have to. That’s part of who we are. That’s critical for the growth of the game.

“We build the product for the majors through the Challenge Tour, the European Tour and so, by the time people get a chance to get to the majors, you know who they are.

“A story I often tell is that when I came over here in 2015, I wasn’t going to start until the fall but, having agreed to take up the job in April, I came over to see what the BMW PGA was like at Wentworth.

“I took my 12-year-old boy, who was really reluctant. He was playing [ice] hockey, he was happy and didn’t want to come over here. But he came over and I sent him out on the golf course with a young staff member and at night he said, ‘I followed this cool kid by the name of Tommy Fleetwood’.

“I had no idea who Tommy Fleetwood was, so I looked him up and, at that time, he was something like 180th in the world. We went back to Toronto and my son followed Tommy religiously that summer.

“The European Tour is where Tommy Fleetwood flourished. We need to be the breeding ground. We need to provide playing opportunities for all our members, regardless at what level, and let them be able to continue to chase that dream.”

A revamped European Tour schedule this season due to the Covid-19 pandemic started with a six-event UK Swing while other new tournaments included a Scottish Championship at Fairmont St Andrews.

Most of those events were subsidised by the European Tour and Pelley is aiming to continue using money from both the Ryder Cup and the circuit’s Rolex Series events to filter down to his membership.

“We have to continue to produce all these tournaments for members and we have to localise them very well because that’s the only way they can stay profitable in the long term, but we will still need to subsidise them,” he added in his podcast interview.

“It will be undeniably challenging, but we have a great plan and our No 1 priority is to our membership and prize funds and playing opportunities for them.”

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