One commissioner to rule them all?

Keith Pelley and Tim Finchem duetting.

68-year old Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, has again raised the idea of one organisation to control professional golf in the US and Europe.

Given the financial supremacy of the US Tour, this doesn’t exactly sound like capitulation on their part, more a question of ‘move over European Tour’.

But Keith Pelley, the new CEO of the European Tour, isn’t about to roll over. He told The Guardian: “From my perspective, we are and will always be a members’ organisation. Every decision we make, every thing we are involved in, we will always deal with the members first and foremost. If in fact there was a significant advantage to our members, to our players and this saw increased prize funds, increased playing opportunities, then I would imagine our members would want us to explore that. But I have not had a conversation with any of our members to date as such.

“I have only been in this job seven months, I am still listening and learning and what I have learnt is that we have a diversity that is very much our strength. We are golf’s global tour; we play in 26 countries in five continents of the world, including the United States. We have quite a bit of diversity right now and what we are currently trying to do is build our organisation and build our tour for our members. Obviously, Mr. Finchem has been in the industry a lot longer than I have so he is probably better equipped to talk about it but every decision we make will always be with our members at the forefront.”

When asked whether or not a combine tour would make more commercial sense, Pelley commented: “I think golf is a little bit different to other sports, based on how many tours there are. We are obviously working with quite a few tours, we have sanctioned events with a number of organisations. Whether a consolidated tour is advantageous is something that would require significant exploration from all the tours and I’m not sure that is something that would happen overnight.

“Based on the fact you already have tours fully operational, I don’t think it is as simple as saying just: ‘Let’s all come together and it will be commercially viable.’ You have to look at it from every member’s perspective, that being the top-ranked player to the 200th. If there was a significant benefit to our members, it is something we would look at but it is not something we have explored to this point.”

He added: “I believe we are already a global tour, with the diversity, the number of countries, where our members play. For us, we are in the process of making our tour a viable alternative to the tour in the United States. To do that, we will have to be aggressive.

“I think the PGA Tour have a very well-run, sophisticated business. I think they have done a terrific job. My focus is not on necessarily what transpires in the US but how we can provide significant playing benefits and opportunities, increased prize purses, for our members. Doing such and increasing the golf experience for our members is critical as we try to have our players play more on our tour.”

“Change is not going to happen overnight but it will happen,” he insisted. “This is kind of our transitional year. I believe our tour will look different in 2017 and 2018. In terms of coming together as a consolidated tour, I wouldn’t begin to entertain that without the players at the forefront of every single discussion.

“We have already seen the Italian Open [purse] change, it will go to €7m next year. If this is a transitional year, 2017 will be different in terms of our prize purses, 2018 will grow upon that. I believe we have tremendous opportunity to show growth to our players.”

“We are in the midst of rebuilding our commercial value for our potential and current partners,” Pelley said. “Golf provides some opportunities that other sports don’t. First and foremost, an ability to potentially play with guys in a pro-am or walk inside the ropes during the live rounds. That doesn’t happen elsewhere … you are not on the pitch, you are not on the court in other sports. Partners and players, bringing them together, is a critical strategy for us.”

We like the energy and enthusiasm that Keith Pelley has bought to the game, and a desire to have a fresh look at everything, and take nothing for granted. We think he’s dealt very well with Tim Finchem’s sniping, and two-fingered him in the politest way possible.

He's also much more approachable than his predecessor, George O'Grady, who certainly didn't have much time of day for riff raff like us; although his predecessor, Ken Schofield CBE, was a great fan and tremendous supporter. 

As Finchem is now 68, he’s not going to be at the helm of the PGA for that much longer, and will not be in any position to direct radical reform on the remains of his watch. It might be more interesting to look at who Finchem’s likely successor will be. Time to move over Tim.

For more on Keith Pelley and why we think he’s really Brains from Thunderbirds, click here or on the image below.