Lee Westwood says it’s a big shame there’s such a big gap between DP World Tour events right in the middle of summer and in the heat of the battle for Ryder Cup places.
Luke Donald in all likelihood knows eight of his team already regardless of where they finish in qualifying – with Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood in the current automatic spots set to be joined by Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose.
There’s a big battle for the final automatic spot on the European Points list with Robert MacIntyre leading the likes of Yannik Paul, Adrian Meronk and Victor Perez for that spot while Sepp Straka and Rasmus and Nicolai Hojgaard jostle for a wildcard.
After the Open Championship there’s now a three-week break in DP World Tour events, with just three left before qualification ends after the Omega European Masters on September 3.
And Westwood says that such a gap is a blow for European hopefuls wanting to sharpen their games and push for places on Donald’s team.
“There are six weeks left in the race to make the Europe team, but only three events on the DP World Tour,” Westwood wrote in his Telegraph column.
“In my opinion it is a crying shame there are no tournaments on the circuit for the next three weeks.
“It is the middle of the summer! Fans will be itching to watch golf after the Open and I can assure you, players will be twiddling their thumbs, desperate to tee it up in competition.”
The qualifying period also means that two big events, the Irish Open then the flagship BMW PGA Championship will not count – although a strange quirk means that last year’s results at Wentworth did count.
There is golf taking place in the UK this summer though, with the Asian Tour’s International Series England event at Close House followed by the St Andrews Bay Championship at Fairmont St Andrews both in August.
The Asian Tour is backued by LIV Golf financers the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and Westwood says that maybe they could work with the DP World Tour in addressing that gap in the future.
The two parties, the PGA Tour, are set to work together to try and smooth out the future of men’s pro golf, with PIF governor…
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