If European Tour CEO Keith Pelley needed to quickly find his feet in a new role he did in delicate dealings with double European No. 1 Rory McIlroy and his management team.
The 51-year old Canadian-born Pelley took over the reins of the European Tour in April from Irish-born George O’Grady.
Earlier in his career Pelley was CEO of the Canadian Football League’s ‘Toronto Argonauts’, and with the team winning the championship title in his first year at the helm.
In early 2014, Pelley and in his role as President of Rogers Media, negotiated a $5.32b deal with the National Hockey League (NHL) for Rogers Media to screen the NHL in Canada.
Now Pelley is the new driving force of the European Tour and with the main Race to Dubai Tour this year boasting 48 tournaments in some 30 countries and with total prize-money, that includes the Final Four Series, of Euro 203m.
However Pelley admits it’s been a very steep learning curve coming to the Tour given he was faced immediately with three major issues including a decision not to award Race to Dubai or Ryder Cup points to next year’s WGC – Bridgestone Invitational that will clash with the French Open.
As well, there was his dealings with McIlroy’s management team and with the Tour agreeing to waive certain rules in McIlroy’s favour ahead of McIlroy then agreeing to add next month’s Turkish Airlines Open to his schedule.
New European Tour CEO Keith Pelley.
There has also been dealings with the Asian Tour and the goal of both tour’s working much closer together in their mutual interests and, as other observers might see, to stop any move by the PGA Tour in spreading its tentacles further into Asia.
In that regard, Pelley hosted two separate meetings with Tour players last week during the European Open in Germany, and with ISM Chairman Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler so impressed with Pelley’s vision he attended both.
“At the end of day the European Tour is a member’s organisation and we want to build and grow this together as it’s not about the Tour dictating which way to go as I want the players feedback, their input and to share ideas or concepts with them,” said Pelley.
“The success of the Tour depends on their involvement short term and long term and they will be an integral part of my tenure here as European Tour CEO.
“Often when you come in as a CEO you have a little chance to sit back and listen and learn from speaking with all the stake-holders but I found myself operational very quickly with some key decisions we had to make and certainly the players support has been fantastic.”
Pelley’s dealings with McIlroy amounted to the fact the four-time Major Champion has only played nine European Tour counting events and four less than what is a mandatory yearly requirement of 13.
That fact, and despite McIlroy being side-lined for some six weeks with an injured ankle, also should have ruled McIlroy out of competing in the lucrative Final Four Series and the conclusion to the Race to Dubai that McIlroy currently leads by some Euro 306,000.
However Pelley released a statement on September 2nd stating that dueto ‘exceptional circumstances’ McIlroy would be permitted to the Final Four Series.
Then twelve days later the Tour announced McIlroy had agreed to play in the Turkish Airlines Open, and the opening event of the Final Four Series meaning he will now contest three of the four events.
“Dealing with the entire McIlroy situation was a good learning experience for me given it gave me the opportunity to understand all facets of the Tour’s regulations and how different they are when compared to the PGA Tour, and what medical exemptions are and how they work and so on,” he said.
“At the end of the day we forensically looked at the entire process from a real open and a transparent side and made the decision we felt was best for the Tour, and it’s been supported by the players.
“We looked at Rory’s overall schedule and realistically after chatting with independent doctors and Rory’s team, and then after analysing it from all sides, we were of the opinion he could play no more events than he’s now agreed to play.”
And as Pelley continues to find his feet on golf’s second biggest stage he’s learning fast also the worth of McIlroy and other young talent, such as England’s Danny Willett, in taking the Tour forward.
“Rory is one of the greatest ambassadors to the game of golf and his value to the European Tour is significant but his value to the world of golf is even more significant,” said Pelley.
“He’s charismatic. He’s intelligent. He’s well-spoken and he is everything you want in an ambassador for a game and we are fortunate he is a member of the European Tour.
“He’s just a terrific guy and we’re counting on him to be a great player for many more years to come.
“And there’s no question Rory and some of the elite players are critical in the plans of the European Tour going forward.
“But more importantly anytime Rory plays golf and anytime that Rory talks and speaks with the media it is positive for our game, and anything that is positive for our game must be positive for our Tour.”
