Reports US PGA Tour offered to buy European Tour denied

US PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem rebuffed suggestions that it had made an offer to purchase the European Tour yesterday.

It had been reported that the United States-based PGA tour had made a bid for its European rival. “Certain news reports today have indicated that the PGA Tour has made an offer to acquire the European Tour,” he said in a statement. “Those reports are inaccurate.

“However, as I have stated publicly on several occasions, the integration of professional golf can create additional value for our players, sponsors and fans.

“More recently, all the major golf bodies around the world worked together to bring golf back to the Olympic Games.”

Some players on the European Tour have become frustrated at what they see as its failure to make the most of its potential, while the eurozone’s financial turmoil has led to gaps on the calendar and less prize money than on the PGA Tour.

“There are so many good things about the European Tour, and it can be such an unbelievable product, given the places we go to and the players we have,” England’s Paul Casey, who sits on the European Tour’s tournament player committee, said recently.

“But we are so far from maximising what we have, and we need to freshen things up. It needs some new energy.”

European Tour chief executive George O’Grady said “collaboration” with the PGA Tour would continue after both the organisations stated that the buyout reports were incorrect. European Tour chief operating officer Keith Waters said: “The notion that the PGA Tour is somehow bidding to buy The European Tour is incorrect.”