Euro Tour Chief Pelley: Not To Be Afraid To Make Big Changes

James Corrigan of the Telegraph reports on European Tour Chief Keith Pelley surprising in his response to calls for a Ryder Cup rethinking.

Speaking to writers in Turkey where the Turkish Airlines Open was just won by Thorbjorn Olesen, Pelley suggested he's using the Paul Casey example as motivation to improve the European Tour.

“Our job as the gatekeepers of the Tour is to provide bigger purses, greater experiences and greater courses so that the players want to play here – and play here more than they need to just to stay a member – and so be a Ryder Cup player,” he said.

“The Ryder Cup is a critical component of our Tour and it is a sensational event. But it shouldn’t be the only reason why someone wants to be on our Tour. That’s our job at hand right now.

“We are having discussions regarding the qualification system. We will have them with our players, with our tournament committee and our board over the coming weeks and months. We will adjust the Ryder Cup qualification if we feel that we need to. We won’t be afraid to make the changes.”

But as John Huggan notes at GolfDigest.com, it's not as simple as making changes.

Eligibility for the Ryder Cup is one of the few “weapons’ he has in the on-going - and generally losing - battle with the bigger purses on offer on the PGA Tour.