Smurfit looks for world status

The Smurfit European Open is to be promoted as a potential $5 million World Golf Championship event. That is the target of Dr Michael Smurfit, chairman of the sponsoring company, in the wake of the latest staging at The K Club last weekend.

This would put the tournament on a par with the three events being staged by the newly-formed PGA Tours International Federation next year - the Andersen Consulting Matchplay Championship in Carlsbad in February, the NEC Invitational at Firestone in August and the American Express Championship at Valderrama in November.

When I asked him if the objective was to achieve the same status as these events, he replied: "Exactly." Then he went on: "But for that to happen, we're going to need a lot a sub-sponsors."

In this way, he was acknowledging the fact that the three named tournaments, to which the World Cup Team will be added in the year 2000, each have prize funds of $5 million, compared with $2.2 million, which is roughly what this year's European Open fund represented.

Smurfit went on: "At this stage, I think it's important to make it clear that the increased funding for the European Open was not linked to our Ryder Cup bid. From the time we took over this sponsorship, our objective was to make the European Open the premier tournament in Europe.

"Logically, given its name, it should be more important than the Irish or the French or whatever and this should be reflected in the prize fund. Of course the British Open is in a different category. It will always be very special, simply because of what it represents in terms of tradition and quality."

He added: "This was our objective when we formed a partnership between the Smurfit Organisation and the PGA European Tour. Obviously we needed time to get it organised and learn what running an important tournament is all about. And it's still a very young tournament in an Irish context."

It would appear that getting the right date is still a problem. "We're not that happy with our present date and we've had discussions with the tour to see what can be done," he said. "We're conscious of what's good for the Irish public and the problem is to find a suitable alternative. For instance, I'm a Galway race fan and I don't want it to conflict with Galway Week."

The weekend's European Open staging was the last major event at The K Club before the announcement of the Ryder Cup. And, understandably, the biennial showpiece is very much to the forefront of Smurfit's thoughts.

"The first objective was to get it for Ireland - and we had formal confirmation of that in Valderrama last September," he said. "Ken Schofield (executive director of the PGA European Tour) is a very intelligent, shrewd administrator who made sure that Ireland was going to pay for it. Which is what's happening.

"Now the key questions is location and all that that entails. With regard to here (The K Club), we have certain things which we need to do if we are to stage the Ryder Cup. And in that context, five or six years is a very short time.

"For example, we will probably need an extension to the hotel. Planning permission could take a year or two. Then there would be the building programme: another year or two. Already, there's the bulk of the time gone.

"So, from our perspective, we need to know certainly no later than the middle of next year, preferably earlier. Schofield knows this. In fact I repeated it to him when we met at the weekend, though I accept that convention dictates that the Americans must first announce 2003 and we expect that to happen anytime now.

"Then, of course, there is the merchandising of the event. Ryder Cup Ireland has a magical ring to it. It's going to be huge for this country."

Did he feel The K Club had earned the right to stage the tournament? "By way of answering that, I think it's important to note that we've been sponsoring junior golf in Ireland for a long period of time," he replied. "In fact we're currently giving serious consideration to awarding places in our pro-am to the winners of the Smurfit Junior Foursomes. It's an idea that appeals to me very much and we will be looking to implementing it next year.

"Before any talk of the Ryder Cup came up, I don't think people could have doubted our commitment to the game. There was the sponsorship of the Irish Professional Championship, the Christy O'Connor Pro-Am and the European Open. But we realise that there's competition out there."

I suggested that it would probably be more beneficial for the country to have the Ryder Cup at a links course, given that this is essentially what Ireland is selling to overseas golfers, certainly those from the US?

"That's what we used to sell," he replied. "But golfing in Ireland is no longer just about links courses. The whole scene has been changed by the development of top-quality parkland courses." He pointed out that the K Club is booked up for a considerable length of time. "You may argue that we limit the number of rounds played here but at our price of £105 per round, the income is as good as 50,000 rounds a year anywhere else. I would suggest that we've proved the demand is there if the quality is right. Indeed I'm concerned that the second course we're planning should be built to the required standard. You can see it's just a bare field at the moment."

He continued: "As I see it, our main rivals for the Ryder Cup are Portmarnock and Mount Juliet, though there's always the possibility of a ringer coming out of the woodwork. I would be very disappointed if we're not favourites going in, but that's not to suggest for one moment that we're complacent.

"In my opinion, Portmarnock are our strongest rivals, because of their established place in the game. But I would suggest that they haven't been great supporters of the European Tour in recent years. Still, I acknowledge and respect the traditionalist view. In fact my son Michael's father-inlaw (Frank Muldowney) is a trustee there.

"Mount Juliet clearly has strong credentials, though I feel that the location is a bit against it. As we see it, there's going to be an awful lot of hotel rooms needed and we can provide a 10-minute airbridge to Dublin in that we've the only helicopter pad in Dublin and we've a helicopter pad here. We would consider that to be a big selling point.

"We've had a number of Americans over such as Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, Tom Lehman and Payne Stewart, among others, and we asked their genuine opinion. Most of them don't know Portmarnock, though I gather O'Meara played there in the 1987 Irish Open. Either way, their response has been very encouraging."

He concluded: "I feel the Americans would favour a course like this, which might not necessarily help our bid, from a competitive standpoint. But that's for the Ryder Cup committee to decide. And the sooner the better."