Willett joins the PGA Tour

[drewster]

I hope they never change the qualification for the RC - the ET has to protect itself and the players represent the tour when playing the RC. If a player isn't willing to support the tour then they shouldn't be able to play in the RC.

Maybe that's the case in the tour's eyes but i'm not so sure it is in the players eyes though . The players play for "Europe" not the "European Tour" just like the Americans play for USA and not PGA Tour. An interesting scenario could be , In the incredibly unlikely event that David Lipsky or Peter Uihlein win mulitple European events this year and make their way onto captain Love's radar would he be able to select them as Captain's picks or do they have to have be PGA tour members or at least played a certain amount of events on home soil ???

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Maybe that's the case in the tour's eyes but i'm not so sure it is in the players eyes though . The players play for "Europe" not the "European Tour" just like the Americans play for USA and not PGA Tour. An interesting scenario could be , In the incredibly unlikely event that David Lipsky or Peter Uihlein win mulitple European events this year and make their way onto captain Love's radar would he be able to select them as Captain's picks or do they have to have be PGA tour members or at least played a certain amount of events on home soil ???

Same process - they need to be members of the PGA Tour.

Golf is already heavily weighted too much towards the PGA tour - the last thing we need is pushing it more that way.

 

[WillC]

Same process - they need to be members of the PGA Tour.

Golf is already heavily weighted too much towards the PGA tour - the last thing we need is pushing it more that way.

I agree, the European Tour must have this rule in place to protect itself. We have enough players without Paul Casey, regardless of how good he is playing. Case of no player is bigger than the team! Plus he knew what it meant when he opted to compete solely on the PGA Tour at the beginning of the year.

 

[drewster]

I hear the argument and can't argue about the logic behind it but if that's the case then let's not blind ourselves that it's the best of Europe v the best of the USA . Let's just call it European Tour Europeans v PGA Tour Americans. Casey is a test case in this incidence and the precedent has been set but it might be dangerous with potentially more European golfers opting for the american dream. What does the future hold ? Maybe than rather opening it up to all Europeans irrespective of where they play the European Tour will eventually dilute the Ryder Cup even more by going from GB&I to Europe to all members of the European Tour just to remain competitive. Obviously it's worst case scenario but not beyond possibility !!!

 

[IanG]

So is Casey eligible to play for the 'PGA Tour' team ?

 

[Mike07]

Using football analogy:

PGA Tour = Champions League
European Tour - Europa League

Quality in both, but everyone want Champions League

 

[Slab]

I hear the argument and can't argue about the logic behind it but if that's the case then let's not blind ourselves that it's the best of Europe v the best of the USA . Let's just call it European Tour Europeans v PGA Tour Americans. Casey is a test case in this incidence and the precedent has been set but it might be dangerous with potentially more European golfers opting for the american dream. What does the future hold ? Maybe than rather opening it up to all Europeans irrespective of where they play the European Tour will eventually dilute the Ryder Cup even more by going from GB&I to Europe to all members of the European Tour just to remain competitive. Obviously it's worst case scenario but not beyond possibility !!!

Yeah I have a feeling if it was Rory and one or two others that focused on the PGA more & could only make the major ET co-sanctioned events like The Open we'd soon see the captains pick criteria relaxed to include those outwith the European Tour

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Could you see what would happen if they change the rules ? The ET would lose all the top golfers - the whole tour would suffer.

The players know the qualification criteria and the players make their choice - it's clear that Casey doesn't want to play in the RC for Europe. He has made his choice and it shouldn't be changed to please one player who hasn't featured for Europe for nearly a decade now ( whilst Europe have won every RC in that period ).

It would be a very sad day for golf if they removed the the qualification criteria

I think the balance is broadly right at the moment. The required number of tournaments is low and Casey seems to be a one off. To be frank, if he can't be bothered to play the requisite tournaments, (not many), then he obviously isn't that fussed about the Ryder Cup so why would Europe want him in the team anyway?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I hear the argument and can't argue about the logic behind it but if that's the case then let's not blind ourselves that it's the best of Europe v the best of the USA . Let's just call it European Tour Europeans v PGA Tour Americans. Casey is a test case in this incidence and the precedent has been set but it might be dangerous with potentially more European golfers opting for the american dream. What does the future hold ? Maybe than rather opening it up to all Europeans irrespective of where they play the European Tour will eventually dilute the Ryder Cup even more by going from GB&I to Europe to all members of the European Tour just to remain competitive. Obviously it's worst case scenario but not beyond possibility !!!

All they have to play is 5 ET events - that's it's just the 5

If others decide to leave then again it shows more about them.

Nothing has changed and all the top players manage to play the required events and the reason why is because they want to play in the RC - the ET should never change that.

Has the RC been diluted in the past because some Europeans can't play - don't believe it has , only one person is going to miss out - Casey and its his choice.

The RC is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and they won't want to miss that. The players shouldn't have the power - the governing body should l.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Yeah I have a feeling if it was Rory and one or two others that focused on the PGA more & could only make the major ET co-sanctioned events like The Open we'd soon see the captains pick criteria relaxed to include those outwith the European Tour

Have a feeling the ET wouldn't do that because they know the damage it would cause to the ET. Why would in anyway would they weaken their own tour ?

 

[NWJocko]

I hear the argument and can't argue about the logic behind it but if that's the case then let's not blind ourselves that it's the best of Europe v the best of the USA . Let's just call it European Tour Europeans v PGA Tour Americans. Casey is a test case in this incidence and the precedent has been set but it might be dangerous with potentially more European golfers opting for the american dream. What does the future hold ? Maybe than rather opening it up to all Europeans irrespective of where they play the European Tour will eventually dilute the Ryder Cup even more by going from GB&I to Europe to all members of the European Tour just to remain competitive. Obviously it's worst case scenario but not beyond possibility !!!

Cases isn't a test case, sure Carl Petterson had a good couple of years fairly recently but was never a member of the Euro Tour so couldn't be considered.

It has never been the "best of Europe", it's always been the best of Europe who are members of the Euro Tour. Isn't really a consideration for US as they're best players are all members of the tour.

 

[TheJezster]

I think its obvious if the likes of Rory, Rose et al stopped their ET membership, then the picking criteria would change.

As for me, right now, should it? I'm not sure, I don't have any feelings strong enough either way, although it does seem a little silly that Casey wouldn't be eligible if he's say, no 5 in the world!

 

[WillC]

All they have to play is 5 ET events - that's it's just the 5

If others decide to leave then again it shows more about them.

Nothing has changed and all the top players manage to play the required events and the reason why is because they want to play in the RC - the ET should never change that.

Has the RC been diluted in the past because some Europeans can't play - don't believe it has , only one person is going to miss out - Casey and its his choice.

The RC is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and they won't want to miss that. The players shouldn't have the power - the governing body should l.

Exactly this, he obviously isn't that bothered, hence he's shunned it. And as somebody said, we haven't done too badly the past few Ryder Cups without Casey's services

 

[Slab]

Have a feeling the ET wouldn't do that because they know the damage it would cause to the ET. Why would in anyway would they weaken their own tour ?

Tough one to call

I'd say they shouldn't be forced to change the criteria (& I'm hypothesizing for captains pick only remember, so two thirds of team and 100% of the automatic RC qualification would remain the same and be dependent on ET participation).... but I reckon they would if the names/calibers were big enough

And that'd be a shame because if they did change captains pick criteria it should be because its the right thing to do, not just because its the right thing to get xyz in the team

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Tough one to call

I'd say they shouldn't be forced to change the criteria (& I'm hypothesizing for captains pick only remember, so two thirds of team and 100% of the automatic RC qualification would remain the same and be dependent on ET participation).... but I reckon they would if the names/calibers were big enough

And that'd be a shame because if they did change captains pick criteria it should be because its the right thing to do, not just because its the right thing to get xyz in the team

If they did that means they would give the green light for people to leave the ET fully which would have a massive negative effect on the tour - the top players wouldn't come back for any events as it wouldn't be worth their while , so the sponsership would drop at each event etc etc etc - it would weaken the ET which would then have a knock on effect to the challenge tour

Casey himself has never had any connection or affinity to the ET - he went through the college system into the PGA and only joined ET at the start to play RC . When he lost his tour card he had to play more on the ET until he got his win then left again and then dumped his ET card. It's one of the reasons I'm glad he can't be picked - he clearly has no interest in playing in the RC ( prob since he didn't get picked for 2010 ) and will stick to his golfer roots over in the US.

 

[drewster]

All they have to play is 5 ET events - that's it's just the 5

If others decide to leave then again it shows more about them.

Nothing has changed and all the top players manage to play the required events and the reason why is because they want to play in the RC - the ET should never change that.

Has the RC been diluted in the past because some Europeans can't play - don't believe it has , only one person is going to miss out - Casey and its his choice.

The RC is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and they won't want to miss that. The players shouldn't have the power - the governing body should l.

No but the Ryder Cup was diluted because the GB & I wasn't competitive enough and they subsequently opened it up to Europeans. The hypothetical that i pose is what if more Europeans follow the Casey model, relinquish their ET membership and set up 100% in America ??? Would the ET change their criteria or further dilute qualification by opening it up to all ET members ???? I totally understand that it's highly improbable and that the lure of RC play currently ensures that the minimum events are played in but who knows what the future brings ??? Hence me posing the hypothetical question. I'm not on a Paul Casey bandwagon at all just keen to hear people's thoughts .

 

[richy]

If they did that means they would give the green light for people to leave the ET fully which would have a massive negative effect on the tour - the top players wouldn't come back for any events as it wouldn't be worth their while , so the sponsership would drop at each event etc etc etc - it would weaken the ET which would then have a knock on effect to the challenge tour

Casey himself has never had any connection or affinity to the ET - he went through the college system into the PGA and only joined ET at the start to play RC . When he lost his tour card he had to play more on the ET until he got his win then left again and then dumped his ET card. It's one of the reasons I'm glad he can't be picked - he clearly has no interest in playing in the RC ( prob since he didn't get picked for 2010 ) and will stick to his golfer roots over in the US.

I was just going to post something similar. I can remember when he was playing poorly and lost his card on the PGA. The ET was alright for him then.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

No but the Ryder Cup was diluted because the GB & I wasn't competitive enough and they subsequently opened it up to Europeans. The hypothetical that i pose is what if more Europeans follow the Casey model, relinquish their ET membership and set up 100% in America ??? Would the ET change their criteria or further dilute qualification by opening it up to all ET members ???? I totally understand that it's highly improbable and that the lure of RC play currently ensures that the minimum events are played in but who knows what the future brings ??? Hence me posing the hypothetical question. I'm not on a Paul Casey bandwagon at all just keen to hear people's thoughts .

Hypothetically the ET could open it up to all their members of the Top European played left to keep it competitive so it because a European Tour vs PGA tour

Or it could hypothetically become part of the presidents cup

But both circumstances wouldn't be good to anyone

 

[drewster]

or hypothetically let the Captain choose whoever he wants as long as they have the relevant passport ????

Thankfully we're not there yet or even in the immediate future but it is worth debate and i'm sure will have been discussed in the Ivory Towers at Wentworth . The Ryder Cup still seems to be the event that virtually all European Golfers aspire to take part in and long may it continue.

 

[Big_G]

I'll probably get shot down in flames for this, but I look at this from a different angle.

I don't think which tour you play on should make any difference to Ryder Cup selection, as in any team sport, it's the selectors duty to pick the best team to win the competition. As has been stated before it's Team Europe, not team European Tour, so the best European players should be picked regardless of which tour they play on.

It's almost blackmail to impose this restriction. It would be like expecting an improving footballer to stay with the club who discovered him out of loyalty. Players of all sports will want to play at the highest level amongst their peers, and in the most prestigious tournaments.

The onus should be on the European Tour to improve what they offer to make it more attractive, not use the Ryder Cup as a tool to retain the star names. With the amount of comps they hold in the middle east, the prize money must be out there?