Another timely reminder of the strength of European golf was Frenchman Matthieu Pavon’s maiden PGA Tour victory over Dane Nicolai Hojgaard at Torrey Pines.
This is a notable result which illustrates the folly of an apparent marginalization of the continent’s golfing interests.
The top two from La Jolla last weekend have been plying their trade on the European-based DP World Tour in 2023 and now appear to have slotted easily into the most lucrative echelons of the American circuit.
Pavon must now reflect with great satisfaction on how he birdied the final four holes of the season-ending Middle East Championship last November.
That helped him snatch from death one of the PGA Tour cards offered to the top 10 finalists in the Race to Dubai who don’t already have American playing privileges. Pavon couldn’t have capitalized better.
This 31-year-old from Toulouse, who came seventh for his debut in the American season in Hawaii at the beginning of the month, has never finished higher than 15th in the Race to Dubai.
Victory in Madrid last season was his first success in 185 attempts on the European Tour. Pavon is turning this into a purple blob of real stuff.
And it shows what players who are sometimes disparagingly viewed as mere loyal companions can accomplish. In fact, his performances prove that the DP World Tour is populated with excellent golfers.
This is a truly international organization and the vast majority of its members come from a continent that resoundingly won the Ryder Cup last fall. This could be a heady time for European golf, but the alarm should be sounded instead.
The future of world golf is more than ever at stake thanks to the upheavals caused by the arrival of LIV and Saudi investments. But at this crucial moment, it is increasingly difficult to discern who is fighting for Europe’s rights?
The DP World Tour is linked to a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour. The partnership brought security to the Wentworth-based circuit and a route to the riches of the United States currently traveled by Pavon and co.
But while the game is encouraged to take a more global perspective, Europe seems increasingly marginalized in the corridors of power.
With Rory McIlroy’s resignation from the PGA Tour’s political committee, there is no continental representation on the player-dominated body that decides future direction. This, thanks to the strategic alliance, is obviously the key to Europe’s future success.
Last Sunday, a day after Pavon’s victory in California, the makeup of the tour’s 2024 Player Advisory Council – which feeds into the board of directors – was announced. Of the 16 actors involved, only one, Irishman Seamus Power, is European.
The 36-year-old from Waterford is an intelligent and articulate figure, but his professional golfing heritage lies on the American side of the Atlantic.
Power has only played two purely DP World Tour events in his two years of membership: the 2022 Irish Open and last year’s event in Abu Dhabi.
He is far from the most qualified to represent the interests of golfers who truly straddle both tours and attempt to meet their schedules to satisfy their domestic and American fans.
Who is interested in such players? A dozen Europeans are competing for the $20 million on offer at Pebble Beach this week. More than double that number was involved in Torrey Pines last week.
Yet the tour and its administration appear inward-looking and US-centric. And this, while international pressures have never been so strong.
Power, along with Canadians Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor and Camilo Villegas of Colombia, are the PAC’s only non-U.S. members. Who will give Europe a break when difficult decisions are made?
Meanwhile, LIV continues to work extraordinarily rich muscles. British world number 16 Tyrrell Hatton appears to be following his Spanish Ryder Cup partner Jon Rahm on his 14-tournament schedule. The Pole Adrian Meronk is also there.
That makes three Europeans who would otherwise be at the heart of the continent’s defense for next year’s Ryder Cup. For them to be involved now will require a change in the policy of the continental tour and the sanctions imposed on LIV recruits.
How easy will this be to achieve when the European tour is so closely tied to an organization that is so influenced by the United States?
Europe has always taken a hard line on people leaving LIV, with heavy fines and bans. This was about them acting in solidarity with their Florida-based strategic alliance partners.
But now it seems that this relationship needs to be reexamined. And, worryingly, there is an absence of player voices at the table to make the case for this side of the pond.
Europe initially benefited from PGA Tour support to counter the financial pressures of the pandemic and to deal with an anticipated incursion into the market that ultimately took the form of LIV.
It seemed like a mutually beneficial arrangement. The DP World Tour coffers were strengthened and America attracted more European talent.
But going forward, the management of the game appears lopsided in favor of the United States and there is little comfort for those looking out for European interests.
Many might argue that it has been this way for decades, but results such as Pavon’s and arrivals on the scene like LIV suggest that the need for more outward-looking international thinking is not being adequately met.