The European Tour?
Last updated: 31st March 2008
Levet: French, not European
Overall it is still a European Tour but a much improved European Tour.
Darren Clarke
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With tournaments in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australasia, the European Tour has well and truly spread its wings and its popularity continues to grow around the world.
So much so in fact that some are now questioning whether the Tour should still have the prefix European?
For while the British Masters, Scottish Open, Irish Open and Volvo Masters are among the flagship events on the Tour, increasingly big in the calendar are the Gulf Swing - Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Dubai - the BMW Asian Open, HSBC Champions - both in China - and UBS Hong Kong Open, to name but a few.
So Golf Night last week went out and asked a handful of Europeans playing at the Andalucia Open on the European Tour what it means to be European, if the tour is still European and if it is still special when the events come back to Europe.
How important is it to play in Europe when on the European Tour?
Thomas Levet: It's half European on the schedule but it is European at heart, mostly because of the Ryder Cup.
Darren Clarke: It is difficult because we are playing all over the world these days with new venues and we spend a lot of time in Asia, so it is a difficult one to call the European Tour.
But we are playing globally and I think the tour is probably stronger now than it has been for quite some time. The quality of players is getting better and better every year and the quality of our venues is getting better and better.
So overall it is still a European Tour but a much improved European Tour.
Do tournaments on European soil feel different?
Thomas Bjorn: Definitely. It feels a part of what the real tour and what the European Tour is all about.
The fields feels maybe a little stronger, it feels harder, everybody is geared up to another level and now the tour is getting into some hard tournaments where it becomes a little bit more difficult to win.
Thomas Levet: It feels more like home to us for sure but when you have played in Asian tournaments it is a lot of travel but the tournaments are getting better every year in Asia, so it is a good combination of both tours but sometimes the travel is too much.
How European do you feel?
Lee Westwood: I feel very European. Playing in the Ryder Cup and things like that really makes you feel European.
Darren Clarke: Very much so, I am from Ireland.
Thomas Bjorn: I think any continental European will tell you that they feel very European, they feel part of one. And that's the way we have we have been brought up; we have been brought up with the European Union, we've been brought up with this era of more Europe than the individual countries. I think the continentals will always feel like that.
Thomas Levet: Me? I am feeling not very European but French!
