Leading EurAsia Cup star Graeme McDowell says the European and Asian Tour needs to ‘work out’ concerns this week’s event is causing among the Ballesteros family who oversee staging of the Royal Trophy.

There’s doubt now over the  future of the Royal Trophy run by the Ballesteros Foundation every year in Asia and in a non-Ryder Cup year given the European and Asian Tour is involved in running the EurAsia Cup.

The Royal Trophy is backed by the European and OneAsia Tour.

Graeme McDowell calling on EurAsia Cup and Royal Trophy organisers to sort out concerns. (Photo – www.europeantour.com)

Four years ago the late, great Seve Ballesteors wrote to the Asian Tour when he was fighting brain cancer expressing how he found the prospect of the EurAsia Cup “very upsetting and disturbing”.

The letter was leaked to late last year to the media and with the Asian Tour rejecting Seve’s call to back the Royal Trophy because of problems over “sanction fees” and “international TV rights”.

“I could never imagine that the Asian Tour and the European Tour would ignore Seve’s letter and the effort and hard work of so many people that have made the Royal Trophy possible,” said Ivan Ballesteros, Seve’s nephew, ahead of last December’s Royal Trophy in China.

McDowell found himself dragged into the controversy on the eve of the EurAsia Cup commencing Thursday at the Glenmarie GC in suburban Kuala Lumpur.

“I’ve got mixed feelings for sure about the two events, and I’m just keen for one of these two events to establish itself in a non-Ryder Cup year as a team-building event for the European Tour,”  he said.

“For Europeans it is important we have a great team event out here in the Asia region.

“Seve is obviously an iconic figure when it comes to European golf and he would want to see the two events to remain strong, so hopefully we can put this event this week on the map a little bit and talk about where we go from here.”

Adding to the controversy is the fact Jose Maria Olazabal, and probably Ballesteros’ closest friend, openly supports the Royal Trophy while fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez is captain this week of the European Team.

‘It’s obvious there can only be one tournament going forward and with everyone reading from the same page,’ said McDowell.

“‘We need the two sides to work it out.’ Sadly, it’s unlikely to happen any time soon”.