If the basis for judging Keith Pelley is the bottom line, the European Tour’s chief executive appears worthy of high praise.
A year ago, Graeme Storm retained his tour card when 111th in the rankings with seasonal earnings of €247,000. Marcel Siem has survived into 2018 while lying 101st in the order of merit; his 2017 winnings are €388,000. Tom Lewis, who finished 135th, headed to qualifying school with the hardly insignificant fallback of €227,000. Boosted by the introduction of Rolex Series events, with prize pots a minimum of $7m, there is a legitimate argument that Europe’s leading players – and even those in the second tier – have never had it so good. Access to the Rolex Series is available to a broad spectrum of players.
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