Coltart: European Tour Headed For Irrelevancy

Judging by the accompanying photo, former player and current Sky broadcaster Andrew Coltart took a break from filming Downton Abbey to tell John Huggan that the European Tour has undermined its future by not forcing home-grown players to show up more if they want to play the Ryder Cup.

After taking on the damaging role of appearance fees, he says...

“Imagine what it feels like to be a promoter of a European Tour event. If you don’t pay out large sums in appearance money, it is virtually impossible to get a field of any real quality. That scenario is highlighted by the fact that an average European Tour event now carries a lot fewer world-ranking points than does one in the US. Which is just one more reason for the leading players to stay across the Atlantic. If things keep going the way they have been, we are going to have virtually no players of any real distinction competing in Europe.”