David Drysdale Our Tour has got to get its act together

Just over a year before it stages the Ryder Cup, this week Gleneagles is the latest stop on the European Tour.

The Johnnie Walker Championship has attracted a top-class field, including former Open champion Paul Lawrie, who’s defending the title.

But it goes ahead against a backdrop of apparent strife behind the scenes, with suggestions that the PGA Tour is contemplating buying over its European counterpart.

Those rumours have been fuelled by Sam Torrance supporting the idea, backed up by one Brit currently earning most of his bucks Stateside, Paul Casey.

He said: “I agree with those people who think we have an unbelievable product, but we are so far from maximising it. We have to freshen things up.”

One major criticism of the European Tour is a calendar with too many blank weeks.

Scottish pro David Drysdale is one of those to suffer from that.

When the 38-year-old tees it up on Thursday, it will have been five weeks since his last competitive round.

But the man from Cockburnspath springs to the defence of the Wentworth regime, and argues comparing the two Tours is far from fair.

He says: “On the PGA Tour, they are playing for $6-7 million every week, with sponsors’ money topped up by huge TV revenues.

“They have all the top players from Europe there from early in the year all the way through to the US PGA.

“So how does the European Tour sell tournaments to sponsors when they can’t get their top players to play in them?

“The Tour’s Executive Director, George O’Grady, has a tough job.

“If he tries to sell an English Open or a British Masters at the height of the season, who will put up the money when it is McIlroy, Westwood and Rose the fans want to see not David

Drysdale!

“But, whatever, we have a clutch of top players going to Gleneagles, so here’s hoping the weather plays its part.

“Despite my five weeks on the sidelines, I’m upbeat going into it.

“My game has been good these past three or four years, and I think I have put the final piece in the jigsaw by working hard tweaking my putting stroke.

“That said, the lads coming back from the States for Gleneagles are at an advantage, having had one or two competitive tournaments at the highest level under their belts.

“80-90% of the field will, like me, have been idle since the Scottish Open unless they qualified for The Open.

“So that has to give my fellow Scots Paul Lawrie, Stephen Gallacher, Scott Jamieson, Richie Ramsay and Marc Warren an edge.

“But we will all get a lot of support from the galleries, and it definitely spurs you on.

“Then we will have home comforts and get to sleep in our own beds, unless you have a very early tee time on one of the first two days.

“I’ve never played well at Gleneagles, but the support makes up for it because we are playing in front of the most knowledgeable crowds in the world.

“They know the difference between a good shot and a bad one, so the applause is also inspirational.”