ANTALYA, Turkey – Perhaps the best way to describe the new European Tour schedule is optimistic opportunism.
It took the PGA Tour more than two years to fit all of the pieces into place for what would become the circuit’s most significant schedule makeover beginning next year. European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley and Co. only had a few weeks to produce an answer.
On Monday the European Tour released its 2018-19 schedule and it was immediately clear the circuit veered down the path of least resistance.
In response to the U.S. circuit’s move to a condensed lineup next year that will include the PGA Championship moving to May, The Players sliding to March and a pre-Labor Day weekend finish to the season, the European Tour planted it’s flag in the fall by shifting six of its top 10 events according to the Official World Golf Ranking after the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
The move included moving the BMW PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event, to the third week of September and the Italian Open from June to October.
“It was very tricky to put all of our good events into good months, especially if you look at the PGA Tour schedule. For the players who play both tours it’s very tricky to come back to Europe between February and June, so I think the European Tour did as good as they could,” Martin Kaymer said on Tuesday at the Turkish Airlines Open. “It puts the Rolex Series events in a place where they can ask players who play both tours to come back and play.”
Just three of the eight Rolex Series events will be played during the heat of the PGA Tour season from February to August, including stops in Abu Dhabi in January and Ireland and Scotland in July. The remaining five, which include the three Race to Dubai events, will be played in the fall after the PGA Tour’s big finish at East Lake.
Essentially the European Tour decided that discretion is the better part of valor and going head-to-head with a PGA Tour schedule that will feature five months of must-play events was a battle that couldn’t be won.
Not only will the Euro Tour’s biggest events move outside the PGA Tour shadow, but it seems the circuit is focusing its resources into these marquee stops considering that the European Tour currently has just a single event scheduled in April (not counting the Masters which is a co-sanctioned event) and has two tournaments in August, which is during the FedExCup Playoffs in the United States, that don’t currently have venues or sponsors.
“When [the PGA Tour] came out with the schedule it was very hard for the European Tour to put the tournaments into decent positions,” Kaymer conceded.
For the top Europeans who play both tours the two schedules align nicely and largely avoid the type of conflicts that require tough choices, like this year when the BMW PGA was played the week before the Memorial.
“It’s hard for a European to go against the European Tour too many times because you want to support the tour,” Danny Willett said. “Finishing in August kind of opens up the last three months for the European Tour.”
There will be a cost, however. By avoiding conflicts with the PGA Tour, the European Tour has essentially extended an already busy calendar by three months.
From early July through the DP World Tour Championship in late November the top Europeans who play both tours will go directly from The Open to the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, FedExCup Playoffs, BMW PGA, Italian Open, WGC-HSBC Champions and finally the Euro Tour’s final three events starting at the Turkish Airlines Open. For many, the best-case scenario would be a dozen starts in 19 weeks.
“The season becomes so long with big events. Starting in February on the PGA Tour until the last big tournament in Europe is pretty much about 10 months,” Kaymer said.
Finding breaks in a schedule without any will be the biggest challenge for players next season, but for the European Tour there weren’t many options and relocating the majority of the circuit’s marquee events outside the PGA Tour window may create a higher profile for the circuit’s finishing stretch.
At least that’s what officials are optimistically hoping for after taking advantage of the best opportunities available.