Following his superb Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship victory (opens in new tab), Victor Perez gave his thoughts on the state of European golf, with the Frenchman full of praise for the strategic alliance of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (opens in new tab)that is set to last until 2035.
The alliance between the two Tours was installed for the next 12 years to combat the emergence of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League (opens in new tab), with one of the most significant clauses within the agreement being that the leading 10 players in the DP Tour rankings, at the end of the season, will gain PGA Tour cards for the following season.
These cards will be given to individuals who are not already exempt and offer a huge opportunity to players like Perez who could benefit massively by making the jump onto the PGA Tour.
“Ideally, I think that’s everyone’s goal,” stated Perez at Yas Links. “I think the Tour has done such a great job giving us the opportunity. I was saying, I think it’s never been easier to get on the PGA Tour for European Tour players because now we have those ten cards. You have all the Rory McIlroys and Jon Rahms (opens in new tab) of the world that are on list but are going to be taken out.
“So it’s really going to drop to, whatever, the 20th position and gives us a great category when you get to America and it doesn’t have to go through that Top-50 world, which if you have a limited amount of points, forces you to perform or forces you to go to Korn Ferry finals which is very difficult to go through and then you might not have a great category.
“You might be called last second to play an event. And whether people want to believe it or not, when European Tour is playing in America, it’s an away game in a sense. You might not be welcome and you might not be in a similar environment that you’re used to in Europe, and you have to prove that you can perform and play well in big tournaments.
“I think there’s a lot of Europeans that are starting to break through and go over there. I think you know, you see guys at The Hero Cup (opens in new tab) last week playing very well, and then going back to the PGA Tour. That’s inspiring and something that I think we all want to do.”
Perez was part of the victorious Continental Europe team
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Perez, like many others, had the opportunity before until the Covid-19 pandemic struck and stopped everything in its tracks. The Frenchman said his time in the US was really difficult and…
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