George O'Grady

	Global vision European Tour Chief Executive George O'Grady explains to Joy Chakravarty, Sports Editor of Emirates Business 247, the Tour's plans for the future.


	Even though the Middle East hosts only three Tour events at the moment, the region has emerged as the most lucrative market for the European Tour. And, starting next season, the sun for the second biggest tour in the world will truly rise and set in the desert when Jumeirah Golf Estates hosts and sponsors the $10m Dubai World Championship, the world’s richest golf tournament. The signing of a comprehensive golf sponsorship agreement with Leisurecorp, under which the Dubai World company also sponsors the “Race to Dubai” bonus pool, forms a joint venture to develop golf courses and provides space for the Tour’s International Headquarters. This has been a huge boost for the Tour. Emirates Golf talked with European Tour Chief Executive George O’Grady to get an update on the Tour’s various projects and issues relating to the game in the Middle East, and much more. With four events in 2009, including the world’s richest golf tournament, how important has the Middle East become for the European Tour? The Middle East has become a vital component of the European Tour. All the events, be it the Dubai Desert Classic, or the tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, are fantastic, high-quality events, very well-organised and played on courses in very good condition. All these tournaments have excellent atmospheres and have raised the bar for the conduct of events. Leisurecorp’s sponsorship is giving us great confidence for the future – the fact that they have shown confidence in the European Tour and the product. Their development plans for Dubai, and for other parts of the world, including their recent purchase of Turnberry, shows they are very serious, very determined. Abu Dhabi and Qatar are high-profile, ambitious tournaments. Did you face any opposition to the Race to Dubai from them? Not really. We spoke to them at different times and explained the thinking of Race to Dubai to them and they were all very understanding. We are also talking about different plans for what would be the right way forward for both those tournaments. We want to find something special for them. But for the moment, Dubai was the quickest off the blocks and they took up the position. And it is also a more advanced golf market than the other two. We have also been hearing for some time now about the possibility of Bahrain joining the European Tour. Any developments there? We are in discussion with them, but nothing concrete at the moment. We can’t say when it will happen. But we are very hopeful that they will join the Tour within the next few years. That is the intention of both parties, but only when the conditions are perfect for both. You also announced last year that the International Headquarters of the European Tour will be based in Dubai. Can you give us an idea of the progress you have made on the setting up of the HQ? We have had numerous meetings already and a number of experts, including physiotherapists, have been down there with their presentations. The building is completely planned now. A few recruitments have been made, including Nick Tarratt, who will be joining us from Emaar as the on-site director in August this year. It is all going really well. Has there been any progress on the European Tour’s joint venture with Leisurecorp in developing tournament courses? The joint venture on new courses is a work in progress. There is a lot of activity in the development of golf courses, but it’s been only six months or so since we joined hands. And we have already achieved so much since last November. These are big projects and they won’t just happen overnight. Few places in the world can be developed at the speed of Dubai. After acrimony between Europe and Asia last year, where does the relationship stand now? We seem to be going along very well. A lot of that had to do with the Indian Masters and the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea. They accused us of “invading”, but once we went down and had a talk with all the parties, it all got sorted out. We are still being courted by the Chinese Golf Association and lots of other bodies down there. And then there are talks of an AsiaOne Tour. They will have to reconcile their own groups. Does the European Tour sense a threat if the AsiaOne Tour (a proposed joint tour by Asia, Japan and Australia) does become a reality? We are aware of it, but we are certainly not getting worried about it or taking sides. From our point of view, it is not going to make much of a difference because the bodies in each country have to decide whom they want to come under. And they very firmly want to keep the European Tour’s co-sanction. Given the geographical spread of the European Tour, have you ever considered re-naming the Tour to something more global? We certainly have thought about it, and more so in the last four years or so. We have done some research, and there are some who would like to change it, but many who won’t. Many of our international organisers and sponsors strongly believe that the European Tour has a George O’Grady very strong brand value. Even though we go to so many countries, and continue to get more and more invitations to do so, I think we will certainly see a re-branding of the European Tour in terms of brand identity, but the name will remain the same. Coming back to your own main territory, how is the European Tour coping with the loss of such big sponsors as Smurfit and Deutsche Bank for their Europe-based events? Things come and go in cycles. Everyone is aware of the economic downturn in certain parts of the world. The Smurfit sponsorship had gone on for a long time and the company’s focus changed when they stopped owning the K Club. And Deutsche Bank had a long run before the banking industry faced its crisis. But UBS has extended their support of the Hong Kong Open. We have had numerous new enquiries from eastern Europe and, of course, we have new sponsorship for the Spanish and Italian Opens. What would be your biggest challenge in the next couple of years? The biggest thing is to get a co-ordinated schedule which has the right focus at the right time of the year and keeps all the parties, including players and sponsors, happy. We will finish the season with the Dubai World Championship next year and we will not have any event then until January of 2010. A lot of thought and effort has to go into this. At present, we have 51 tournaments (including Majors and WGC events), and we are looking at a six-week off season towards the end of the year. So we will either have to cut down on the number of events, or play two events simultaneously in one week. We hope to give a real definition to the Tour in the next couple of years.