Ian Poulter backs new European Tour Rolex Series, but says will ‘never’ compete with US PGA Tour
Seven tournaments in 2017 each offering minimum prize funds of US$7 million attempt to counter strength of season-ending FedEx Cup
Ian Poulter has conceded the European Tour might be fighting a losing battle in their bid to compete with the PGA Tour following the recent announcement of the multi-millon dollar Rolex Series.
The new series, which was announced last month, will feature a minimum of seven tournaments in 2017 each offering minimum prize funds of US$7 million with the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai featuring a prize fund of US$8m.
Running from the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, the series will also features stops in Northern Ireland and Scotland in July, Italy in October before culminating with events in Turkey and South Africa before Dubai all in November.
The move by innovative and forward thinking chief executive Keith Pelley is seen as a counter to the growing strength of the US PGA Tour and the drain of players from Europe to America, where the season-ending FedEx Cup alone offers four events each with a prize fund of US$8.75m plus a US$10m bonus.
“I don’t think the initial concept from the European Tour is to stop European players going to play on the PGA Tour, I don’t think that is why it was set up, the vision behind the idea is to have a set of events which are US$7m purses to try and strengthen what the European Tour have,” said Florida-based Poulter.