Eight-time former No. 1 Colin Montgomerie insists it’s ‘distressing’ to see the might of the European Tour drop to staging six tournaments of Euro 1m (£Stg 900,000) each.
The Tour announced recently will herald a return to competition on July 22nd with a ‘UK Swing’ of half-a-dozen events in England and Wales.
The tournaments will be a ‘no spectators’ affair while the Tour, and also in an unprecedented move, also will not allow media at the six venues spread out over a 300-mile radius from Close House near Newcastle in the north-east of England to Celtic Manor in Wales and where Monty led Europe to victory in the 2010 Ryder Cup.
Colin Montgoermie stating it is ‘disappointing’ the European Tour has to now host six events in succession with just a Euro 1m each in prize-money.
In contrast, the PGA Tour will resume on June 11th with the opening four ‘non spectator’ events boasting each with an unchanged prize purse of $7m plus.
In speaking with the BBC Monty said: “It’s sensible and I know the prize money isn’t what they’d expect but it gets the membership playing golf.
“It’s a total reset and I feel for the young guys coming through who thought they were going to be playing for millions.
“It’ll take a few years before we get back to those times. It is distressing because the likes of Ken Schofield, George O’Grady and now Keith Pelley worked hard to build this European Tour up to what it is today.
“It is a shame for all the hierarchy of the tour to see it just stop.”
The notion of ‘no media’ rule is in stark contrast to the PGA Tour that is at least allowing some 30 media to be present to cover next week’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
Lee Westwood, and a winner of £Stg 34m alone on the European Tour, will host the opening event – the British Masters – and with the prize-money funded by the Tour.
Monty, who banked £Stg 22.5m from his 31 Tour wins, recalled a meeting with the Tour executive a decade ago prior to leading Europe to victory with Wales.
He said: “The Rolex Series events playing for $7m (£5.5m), my God that was a complete year in our day.
“This is a reset of 10-15 years into the past isn’t it?
“I remember Richard Hills, who was the Director of the Ryder Cup and CEO George O’Grady holding meetings and saying to me: ‘This is important, a home win for a European Ryder Cup team, is massive’.
“It kept the sponsors that we had, I wouldn’t say it increased any, but at least it kept the sponsors we had at a time when economically 2008 through 10 was horrific.
“And this will be much worse. So I can understand the Tour wanting to get it done in an economic sense.”
