European Tour School 2nd stage

Hi all, apologies for my absence over the past week or so. I have just arrived in Spain where I am caddying for my friend Shaun McAllister. Over the next few days I will have a chance to see some of our top guys in action and will be posting scores from all 3 venues.

European Tour School

As a lot of people will know the second stage of tour school is fast approaching and with this in mind I would like to bring up the subject of how expensive it is. The entry cost alone is around £1500 and then on top of that you have got expenses for first, second and even third stage if you get that far. I feel this would be a great time for potential sponsors to back Scottish amateurs and professionals as even if the finance were made available to fund tour school at the end of it a sponsor may be backing a European Tour player. The cost for the whole of tour school will be around £5000 and you can play great an get through first and second stage but if you miss the cut at third stage you are left with nothing. The question I ask is this, is the potential cost of tour school pricing our guys out of entering?

Woods 'Majors are more impotant than no.1 spot'!

Tiger Woods has come out and said that after being knocked off the top of the world rankings by Lee Westwood that his main aim now is to beat the major record set by Jack Nicklaus. This for me brings up the questions of how important is the world ranking and how fair is the points system. Lee Westwood has play some great golf in recent times but should a player who has not won a major be the top ranked player in the world? What do you think?

Spread the word!

I would like to thank everyone who has visited my site so far. If my campaign for funding and a Scottish Golf Tour for our professionals is to become a success the word needs to be spread. If anyone who visits the site and would like to make my ideas become a reality please post my link on websites, blogs and social networking sites. This would really bolster my site and the more people that get behind this campaign the more chance there is of turning round the fortunes of the Scottish game. http://www.scottishprofocus.blogspot.com/! Copy and paste wherever you can!

Another great week for Laird!

After narrowly missing out on victory last week Martin Laird has continued his great form by finished tied for 3rd in the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic. This is great for Scottish golf but is playing in America the reason why Martin continues to be our highest ranked player?? Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated!

Where is the funding?

The majority of feedback I have been receiving so far is without funding and sponsorship how can our professionals play. Our amateur golfers seem to get a good amount of funding and by no means is that a bad thing but surely a fund should be put into place to help professionals. Even a fund to cover entry fees which lets be honest are ridiculous. £275 to play 1 Euro Pro event is just not on! Times that by 15 and it becomes a fortune to play a full season. Some guys are almost afraid to turn professional cause they lose the funding they receive as a top amateur and suddenly playing golf is not financially viable. With the current state of the economy it is harder than ever to attract sponsorship. We are not all as good as the likes of Rory McIlroy who made it big time straight away. Like any profession it takes time to reach the top so lets financially support our guys and give them time to realise their true potential.

Laird beaten by Byrd hole-in-one!

Martin Laird narrowly missed out on victory in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at the weekend. As darkness fell in a 3 man playoff a hole-in-one from Jonathan Byrd at the fourth extra hole was enough to secure victory. With Martin Laird being the top ranked Scottish golfer at the moment it opens up the PGA Tour vs European Tour argument. Martin Laird plays the majority of his golf on the PGA Tour and I probably like many feel the feeder tours in the USA are far superior as to what we have to offer. You only need to look at the how much better the money is on the Nationwide Tour in comparison to the Challenge Tour. I believe for some of our guys America could be a better option. Now I may be talking rubbish but what does that say for us. Whether you agree or disagree I would really like to get your opinions on this matter!

Congratulations to Manassero

Big congratulations go to Matteo Manassero who today became the youngest ever winner on the European Tour. Not so long ago how many top Italian players could you name but look now, 2 Ryder Cup players and a sensational teenage star. Does that not just prove how quickly things can change and that with the right guidance and funding some of our guys could be featuring on the world stage very soon.

Rory plays Challenge Tour

It is great to see a player like Rory McIlroy playing Challenge Tour this week. It really adds to the event and gives even more incentive to our young guys to reach the Challenge Tour!

Scottish professionals need a stepping stone to the Challenge Tour!

There are a number of tours that offer cards on the Challenge Tour, (the Euro Pro and Alps Tour are examples of this), and yes these tours are both open to Scottish players but tours outside of Scotland are extremely expensive for our guys to play. There seems to me to be a real need for either a new Scottish Tour or a development of an already existing tour, for example the Tartan Tour that offer Challenge Tour cards. Good prize money is one thing but Challenge Tour cards being available to say the top 3 guys in the final order of merit is what will really push our guys through the ranks. Remember a certain Molinari brother was playing a full Challenge Tour season in 2009 and look where he is today. So lets not just offer our guys a tour with purely financial rewards but offer rewards which in my opinion are far greater!

Scottish Pro's must stick together!

From the comments received so far it seems the best way forward to creating a Scottish Golf Tour open to all young Scottish Professionals may be by the guys themselves getting together and forming some sort of committee  to put forward to the relevant people and investors. Individuals making cases for a Scottish Golf Tour does not seem to be working!

Give the guys a fighting chance!

It has become apparent to me in recent years that Scottish Golf has been on a downward spiral and it does not seem to be changing anytime soon. Much of this is due to the lack of sponsorship and funding for young golf professionals. Sure we have much talent within Scottish golf but these guys are struggling to survive without this funding and a lack of a recognised Scottish Golf Tour open to all Scottish pros. The best option for these guys at the moment is the EuroPro Tour and I have much experience of this tour through caddying and close friends being members of the tour. Around 250 guys compete on the tour throughout the year but by the end of the season only a handful of these guys break even. 155 guys compete in each tournament and only around 30 of these guys will receive enough prize money to cover the entry fee. By the time you add travel, food and accomodation onto this guys are spending in excess of £700 per tournament. Many out of their own pockets. Now an even bigger worry for Scottish golf is that 90% of tournaments on the EuroPro are held in England and in the 2010 season not a single one in Scotland. Is it any wonder English golf is thriving at the moment. Something has to be done about this. Future stars of the game are having to give up because golf just isn't a viable option with no money. The only way forward is to create a dedicated Scottish golf tour to give talented Scottish golfers a breeding ground to make money but most of all gain the experience needed to further there career. Now I do not mean a tour where the majority of players are losing money due to high entry fees and poor prize money but a tour which has greater rewards than risks on offer. Over the coming months I will be posting a number of my ideas and thoughts. I will also be posting interviews and an insight into male and female Scottish professionals that face many of these problems. I invite anyone to share there ideas and thoughts on this matter. If anyone needs anymore motivation the Ryder Cup just passed involved 4 English players and not a Scottish player in sight (Monty doesn't count). It wasn't all that long ago that Monty was winning European Order of Merits for fun and Sandy Lyle was winning majors so lets support our young professionals and get back to the glory days.