The European Tour will work with the PGA on a global schedule, leading to playing opportunities for better prize funds, as well as collaborating on commercial opportunities

PLANS for a breakaway “super tour” appear to have heralded a major move to create a strategic alliance between the European Tour and the PGA Tour.

In a bid to fend off moves by the The Raine Group – reported to be backed by Saudi Arabian money – the European Tour and PGA have signed a partnership agreement.

And 2021 is set to see changes to the playing schedules on both sides of the Atlantic as a result.

The Tours said on Friday they will work in partnership on a number of areas including global scheduling, prize funds and playing opportunities for their respective members.

In today’s announcement, both tours have agreed to “explore all facets of collaboration, working together on strategic commercial opportunities including collaborating on global media rights in certain territories.”

The PGA Tour has already taken a minority stake in European Tour Productions (ETP), the media production company, which produces and distributes content internationally.

Further details on the other areas will be announced in due course, the European Tour said in a statement from its Wentworth HQ.

But the most likely outcome is FedEx Cup points will be available for American players – and those Europeans with status in the States – at the European Tour’s lucrative events between September and November.

Commissioner Jay joins ET board

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will take a seat on the European Tour board

The European Tour statement added: “One element of the partnership which can be confirmed is the fact that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will take a seat on the board of the European Tour.”

Before the European Tour launched the UK Swing in July – after a three-month break in tournaments because of the COVID-19 crisis – its head Keith Pelley warned players the days of large multi-million prize funds, and many of the players’ perks of a luxury lifestyle on Tour, were under serious threat from the economic effects of the pandemic.

Speculation has been rife since March that the Tour was short of cash, and may have been looking for an injection from, or possible merger with, the PGA Tour.

Without the cash generated by the Rolex Series, which was reduced from eight to just four events in 2020, this year’s prize funds represented a major step backwards, with a huge gulf between a winner’s cheque on the PGA Tour and a European one.

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: “This partnership is an historic moment for the game of golf, and is a fantastic opportunity for both the European Tour and the PGA Tour to explore ways to come together at the very pinnacle of our sport – and work in unison for the benefit of the men’s professional game.”

Mr Pelley added that the announcement was the formalisation of a closer working relationship between the two Tours in recent years.

He added: “It was one which was crystalised earlier this year when both Jay and I were part of the working group containing representatives of the four Majors and the LPGA, a group which helped shape the remainder of the golfing calendar for 2020 during unprecedented times.

“We shared the challenges of working through a year neither of us could have ever imagined and we found definite synergies in many areas of our respective Tours. That gave us the impetus to move forward together and arrive at this momentous announcement we are making today.”

Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA TOUR, said, “We are thrilled to announce this further strengthening of our partnership with the European Tour.

“We look forward to working together for the benefit of the men’s professional game and for golf fans around the world.”

Brooks Koepka has publicly distanced himself from plans for a breakaway Premier Golf League – reported to be backed by Saudi Arabian money. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Why world’s top three declined PGL approach

EARLIER this year the world’s top three players all came out publicly to state they would not back plans for a Premier Golf League, reported to be touting for the world’s top 48 players to create a breakaway tour.

Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka all pledged their loyalty to both America’s PGA and European Tours – with McIlroy saying he was unhappy at the prospect of Saudi money being linked as a backer of the Raine Group plan.

Koepka, who rang Rory to discuss the move, also voiced fears that it was wrong to limit the highest and most lucrative level of the game to just 48 players.

Rory said in March: “I think one of the great things about golf is the fact that there are these story lines of the underdog – and the fact that anyone can really qualify for the US Open and have a great tournament, and have a chance to win.

“Those are the wonderful things about golf. For this league to sort of take that narrative away, and as Brooks said, he’d have a hard time looking at some of those guys in the eye that don’t make that top 48.

“The top players going to this other league it basically, not puts these other guys out of a job, but it definitely diminishes what they’re playing for and what they could earn on Tour.”

The new tie up also poses question marks over the future of the Ryder Cup.

The Ryder Cup is jointly owned by the European Tour and the PGA of America – the body of thousands of ordinary club professionals in the USA.

Any future merger between the PGA Tour and the European Tour would shift the power balance Stateside, and give it a share in sharing the spoils of the huge revenues the worldwide sporting event generates.

One seasoned golf industry executive said after the agreement was announced said: “If you’re the PGA Tour, why wouldn’t you want to flip those economics in your favour?”

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Rory McIlroy shot a superb 65 to lead the World Golf Championship in Mexico City by two as he seeks to complete the WGC Grand Slam. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

RORY McIlroy soared into a two-stroke first round lead at the WGC-Mexico Championship in his bid to complete the WGC Grand Slam.

The World No. 1 continued a stunning run of recent form with a six-under par 65, at Chapultepec Golf Club, in Mexico City.

The Northern Irishman has won every other World Golf Championships title and is hoping to complete the clean sweep this week in Mexico City.

McIlroy completed the third leg of the WGC Grand Slam when he triumphed at the most recent one – the WGC-HSBC Champions – in November.

“It was good. All aspects of my game were working pretty well,” said McIlroy after his first round.

“I drove the ball well, and I took advantage of that. I think the big thing was I putted well. I didn’t putt so well at Riviera last week.

“I went back to my old putter, I was trying a new one last week. It didn’t quite work out the way I wanted it to, but I was comfortable on the greens and holed some nice ones coming in.”

While questions may remain over McIlroy’s putting prowess, there was no doubting his premium ball-striking, regardless of the effect of playing at altitude, with Chapultepec some 7,600 feet above sea level.

Rory revealed: “I think I’ve got the altitude pretty figured out. I’ve always played well at altitude.

“I’ve played well in Crans over in Europe a few years. I finished second there last year, I obviously finished second here last year.

“I think I have a pretty good formula for it, and I can hit the ball a long way here, which helps, and then my distance control has been pretty good.

“That combined with not really guessing too much over things. Certainty goes a long way, especially around this place.”

McIlroy got off to a fast start after a stunning second shot into the par five 11th hole – his second – yielded an eagle, and he finished in some style too as a pair of closing birdies moved the 30-year-old two clear of Bubba Watson and Justin Thomas.

Louis Oosthuizen was one of four players a shot further back on three under, while his fellow European Tour Members Tyrrell Hatton, Paul Casey, Patrick Reed and Lee Westwood all carded 69s to sit four off the lead on two-under.

Oosthuizen said: “I felt like I was really unlucky on one. I pitched it on the downslope in the bunker and it stayed there, and had absolutely no shot – ended up leaving myself 10 feet for par and missed that.

So not the start I wanted, but I just fought it out really, and there’s still a lot of work to do.

“I’m struggling finding a driver that I’m comfortable with, so you’ll see me a few times in places that I’m normally not at.

“But I’m fighting it out, and I’ve done a good job on the greens today,” added Oosthuizen, who was third behind McIlroy at Sheshan Golf Club, in the HSBC Champions, in 2019.

•To follow Rory McIlroy’s hopes of completing the WGC Grand Slam click here.

Hatton happy to be playing again

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE pro Tyrrell Hatton was relieved to play well having missing three months while waiting for a persistent wrist injury to heal.

Hatton, who won the Turkish Airlines Open, in November, said: “Overall, I’m pretty happy with that.

“I’ve only been back hitting balls for the last three and a half weeks, so it was a long lay-off. I’m quite happy,” said the Harleyford GC member.

“Obviously I’ve done well here in the past, so I know the course pretty well, and yeah, it was just good to kind of get back out there and play competitive golf again.

“I always enjoy short, fiddly golf courses, I guess, and this is certainly up there with the best of them,” said Hatton, who also won the 2017 Italian Open on a tight parkland track.

“And I guess it’s funny because you need patience around here, and that’s something that I don’t really have.

“For some reason the course has kind of been fairly kind to me, and hopefully it continues this week.”

The post Rory McIlroy’s pursuit of WGC Grand Slam gets off to perfect start in Mexico City appeared first on Golf North.

Rory McIlroy has won three of the four World Golf Championships – victory in the WGC-Mexico Championship would give him a Grand Slam. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

RORY McIlroy is hoping to convert his impressive recent form into a second successive World Golf Championships victory at the WGC-Mexico Championship – and to keep his coveted World No. 1 spot.

Spaniard Jon Rahm is aiming to depose the Northern Irishman at the top of Official World Golf Ranking in the first WGC event of 2020 at Mexico City’s Chapultepec Golf Club.

McIlroy claimed his third World Golf Championships title at the WGC-HSBC Champions in November – and is eyeing victory in the of the four to have so far eluded him in his stellar career.

The Northern Ireland ace has picked up three consecutive top five finishes since – a purple patch which helped him overtake Brooks Koepka to return to the World No. 1 spot for the first time since 2015.

McIlroy, who is still without a Major win since 2014, and has spent the last two seasons trying to improve his early season preparation before The Masters, said: “It’s good to be back in Mexico.

“I’ve played well here the last couple of times I’ve played. DJ (Dustin Johnson) was just sort of too good for all of us last year – I played in the final group with him – but it’s good to be back.

“I’ve always felt like I played well at altitude. I’ve played well here. I’ve played well over in Europe and Switzerland a couple of times.

“I feel like I adjust pretty well to it, and that’s really what it’s all about.

“That’s what it’s all about this week, just trying to adjust and trust your numbers and make sure you know how far the ball is going. That’s really it.

“I feel like this tournament has gone from strength to strength the last few years, and I obviously would love to add it to the list of winners here.

“That would be pretty cool, to have won all of the World Golf Championships.

“WGCs are big events, with the top players in the world, and I’ve always played pretty well in them.

“I had a chance when this was played in Doral a few years ago, or a couple of chances, and obviously I’ve played okay here.

“To complete the set would be nice. Those wedge wood trophies look pretty good in the trophy case, so I’d like to add one more there.”

This week, he tied Nick Faldo in third place on the list of players with most cumulative weeks at the top of the World Rankings on 97.

And another week would move him to outright third position, behind only Tiger Woods (683) and Greg Norman (331).

Rahm, however, could move to the top spot for the first time in his career.

The Spaniard – who received the Seve Ballesteros Award as the 2019 European Tour Players’ Player of the Year ahead of the opening day of the WGC-Mexico Championship – would need a win if he is to have any chance of doing so this week.

Rahm said: “It’s always nice to come to a country where they speak Spanish.

“The culture is a lot more similar to what it is in Spain. There’s good food, good hospitality and a good golf course. It doesn’t really get much better than this.

“My perspective hasn’t changed at all this week, honestly. I’m here to win a tournament. That’s what I’m here to do.

“I’m hoping for the rest of the year, it’s going to be like that where at some point I’m going to win or have a good performance and get to No. 1 in the world, but the main goal is to win championships, win tournaments, and play my best every week I can.

“Those rankings are basically a consequence of what I do on the golf course, so I’ve got to take care of business first.”

Johnson aims for hat-trick in Mexico

Dustin Johnson has won two of the three WGC-Mexico Championships – sandwiching’s Phil Mickelson win over Justin Thomas in a play-off in 2017.

Johnson said: “I feel like the game is in good form, but obviously you’ve got to do a lot of things well around here if you want to win.

“But I like the golf course. I’ve felt comfortable on it, and I’m comfortable up here playing at the altitude.

“But you’ve got to do everything. It’s really narrow, so first and foremost, you’ve got to drive it well, and then obviously these greens are really small and undulated.

“So if I can control the distance of my golf ball, then it’ll be a pretty good week.”

•To follow lives scoring in the WGC-Mexico Championship click here.

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