European Tour and Ladies European Tour Tee off Together in Morocco
For the first time ever the European Tour and the Ladies European Tour will be playing in a dual event at Morocco’s Royal Golf Dar Es Salam this week.
In a bid to attract more coverage and hopefully more fans both Tours will be hosted at the same venue over the same days. With the LET’s Lalla Meryem Cup playing on the Blue Course, the ET’s Trophee Hassan II will be playing over on the Red Course. The concept is one Tour executives are hoping to make more use of in the future.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said, “I hope it’s the start of an increased collaboration to come between the two Tours. We can grow and get stronger together. It’s an innovative approach and we’re keen to see how it works this week before deciding on the next steps.”
Adding, “We have a number of ambitious ideas which we will be announcing in the coming months, but this week we’re focused on the start of a partnership which we hope can grow over time.”
Another key factor in the timing of this event is golf’s inclusion in the Olympics this summer in Brazil. With the games just a few weeks away, Tour executives are also using this opportunity to showcase the talent one might see this summer in Rio.
“It’s terrific to be here alongside the LET to stage the men’s and women’s tournaments just three months prior to the Olympics,” said Pelley. “There are many Olympic hopefuls competing in both tournaments, so it’s a great opportunity to showcase the strength of the men’s and the women’s games.”
Taking a cue from other sports like tennis that combine men’s and women’s events, golf is hoping to “grow the game” by incorporating the two tours. An idea even the professionals are getting behind.
“We need to look beyond the borders of golf and in other sports we can see the best practices,” explained LET Chief Executive Ivan Khodabakhsh. “We can see in tennis and in other sports, actually having both genders side by side in a great event competing gives so much more colour, provides so much more for the fans and hopefully we can gain new fans coming to the sport.”
Adding, “It’s not just about satisfying our current fans, we need more fans, we need to grow the game and this is another means.”
