"Unashamedly, we have to be commercial when we allocate the event"
/I posted this as the last item on the GolfDigest.com clippings post along with a few more new items, and while the matches are proving quite compelling so far, I'd hate to see this item get forgotten. Paul Kelso writes:
George O'Grady, chief executive of the European Tour, is proud of the commercial profile that the event now enjoys and says there is no limit to where it might be staged; he would even consider staging it in Dubai, soon to be the setting for the European Tour finale.
"Unashamedly, we have to be commercial when we allocate the event," he said this week. "The Ryder Cup underwrites the finances of the Tour and funds all the game development and charitable work we do. Every penny we make goes back into the game, but we have to make as much as we can from the home match."
O'Grady believes the tournament has thrived because it delivers measurable benefits to the regions that act as host, and does not rule out a match in the Middle East.
Unashamedly, won't someone step up and explain to the European Tour that it's one thing to subject us to some truly awful golf courses, but another thing entirely to go outside of Europe?