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DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, DUBAI

November 17, 2015

Keith Pelley

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

SCOTT CROCKETT: All right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your attendance with us here this morning as we begin the buildup to the season-ending finale, the DP World Tour Championship.

Obviously we're delighted to be joined this morning by Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of The European Tour. Keith joined us in August and has had an interesting three months which he will expand on in the next few minutes, and it is now my pleasure to hand over to Keith to start us off today keyed.

KEITH PELLEY: Thanks, Scott, appreciate it. Good morning. Beautiful day today. This is my first time in Dubai, and I'm absolutely thrilled to be here and the weather and the venue look marvelous.

No wonder the tournament won, I think it was a five-star --

SCOTT CROCKETT: Five-star award last night at the Dubai Sports Council.

KEITH PELLEY: So congratulations. That obviously promises to be a terrific week.

I think Julian Small is here from Jumeirah. Thank you very much for the host. He was a gracious host at Wentworth, and now you've moved over to Dubai, and I think you sold your umbrellas (laughter). I now own five umbrellas. I didn't own any just three months ago. We now own five.

Neil Graham is here and Eric Cooper from DP World is here and thank you, Eric, for coming. I know you had some challenges here but we've all heard about your charming bride. And I hear she's doing very well and we're thrilled about that, so thank you for coming.

Who else is here; I think Freddie is here from BMW and Jean-Noel is here from Rolex, good to see you again. We had a great visit a couple of weeks ago in Geneva where I got an opportunity to see the watch factory and how they are made, and it's just phenomenal. If you ever get an opportunity to do that, that is a terrific experience.

So what a week we have in store. Obviously there's a number of players that can win. Danny Willett and Rory are neck-and-neck, but I think there's seven, as we went through the computations last night of who can and who cannot win. It really is going to be a special week.

It has been a whirlwind three months. So I have a number of issues and a number of observations I'm going to take you through before we get to some Q&A.

But before that, I want to reflect on the terrible situation in France. One of our own referees, Pascal Vincent, who was a referee at Qualifying School last week, is from Paris. He's been with us for 12 years and he lost two of his close friends in one of the restaurants that he often frequented. They owned the restaurant. He often went there and took European Tour staff members.

So our thoughts and prayers are not only with Pascal and the families of all the victims. You know, my 12-year-old said to me on the weekend, because he couldn't quite understand it because we had gone to Paris just two weeks ago. And our heartfelt feelings go to the entire families of what was a tragedy that touched all of us.

As a result, the players will wear ribbons on their caps this weekend. We will fly the French flag at the clubhouse and also on the grandstand on the first tee. So it is a tough time that we are all dealing with right now.

As far as my first three months go, well, I'm learning how to deal with jet-lag, that's for sure. I had only been to Beijing; that was my only trip in 2008 for the Olympics. I've been there now three times in the last 2 1/2 months. So it has been absolutely full-on busy. I understand what that kind of hazy feels like. I got in late last night and had our first meeting at 5.45 this morning. So understanding the three-hour sleep day very well now.

It has been very busy. Often as you come in as a CEO, you look to reflect and understand all facets of the business before you start to move into an execution plan. We became operational on I think day one. Keith Waters and I headed to Singapore on day two to meet some of the Asian Tour players and certainly we're fully engaged in that project. Got very involved in Bridgestone early on day five. Obviously dealt with a situation that Rory had facing his injury. So there's been a number of things that were operational on day one.

But having said that, I've still had a tremendous amount of time to reflect; to speak to a number of stakeholders, sponsors, players, who quite honestly have been the biggest delight and surprise. I'm not sure why they were such a surprise to me, because -- but they have been.

I've been dealing with athletes for the last 25 years, and I've never had such a great experience dealing with professional athletes as I've had in the last three months. And their willingness to be part of something special and to grow The European Tour is incredibly rewarding. And this is all the players from the elite to the medium and the low-ranked players, and that really not only gets you energised, but you can certainly see the opportunity that exists in front of us.

So I'm going to deal with a couple of topics, a couple of findings, and then make a couple of announcements.

But first and foremost, we are going to be different. There is no question. We are in the midst of structuring our overall tour in a more, what I call, players-first philosophy. That will be something that will be absolutely critical for us.

We will have a player relations department that will report directly to me. It will have a number of different participants that are part of that committee. They will speak different languages because we play in 27 different countries. We are a European Tour in name, but we are diversity at the fullest. And so as a result, that player relations department will reflect our memberships.

We are a members organisation and we will adopt very quickly a players-first philosophy. And you will see that start to transpire over the next number of months, especially as we put forward a great player relations department.

One of the greatest stories that I have had, and I see David Park back there, and David Park came to me very early and I know I go off on tangents, Scott --

SCOTT CROCKETT: Yeah.

KEITH PELLEY: This is one of them (laughter). But I see David, and it was one of the most rewarding moments when he came. And he said: Keith, this is what I believe the player relations department should be. It needs to be strategic, it needs to be this, it needs to be that.

And then he said, "And I want to be part of it, but I want somebody else to be that person."

And I said to David Park, "You can work for me forever." It was that type of cooperation and care and passion for the Tour that we have in our employees. And I know that we're going to develop something that's very special with our player relations department.

As I said, I've had a chance to talk to a number of players, dinners -- at all level, the elite, the medium and the low-ranked players and one of the things that keeps coming up and we are going to address it, and that is slow play. We are going to be the leaders in dealing with slow play.

I cannot tell you what that means from a concrete perspective right now but I've had significant dialogue with Martin Slumbers from the R&A, and they are in violent agreement that this is something that we need to deal with. There is a conference next week with the R&A. We will participate in it. We will do this in cooperation with them but I can tell you, that when we stand here, when I sit here next year, we will have a completely different philosophy on slow play. Slow play is a critical part of our game and we will address it.

Player migration. Don't take this the wrong way, but I do believe that there seems to be an obsession with player migration and somewhat of an obsession with who is not playing, as opposed to who is playing every week. But I do understand it. And I do pancreas cancer that many of you have asked the questions, and I'd be asking the same questions.

Obviously I have been in the media for close to 30 years and this would be the question that I'm asking is how do you get more players to play in Europe.

First, I always am going to focus on, who is playing and what players are playing this week. As I would say if I was in Canada, south of the border, that doesn't seem to be as big a story in the media, and you know that the top players don't play every week in the United States.

However, it is something that is a concern to the media, so it is obviously a concern to us. At this particular time, if you are a young player, and you have done very well in the European Tour, and you want to make the most money, you are going to go play in America.

And the reason that you're going to do that, and the answer to your question that you always ask is: How are you actually going to have our people play more often here in Europe. The answer is very simple. We need to provide a viable alternative to the PGA Tour for our elite, medium and low-ranked players. End of story. We need to be more too important to be dismissed, too important to be dismissed from our sponsors, from our stakeholders from our players. It doesn't come any more simpler than that. A viable alternative to the PGA Tour for elite, medium and low-ranked players.

And so what that does mean is we are going to have to increase our prize purses. That means that we are going to have to focus on our diversity. We play in unbelievable places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Turkey and Paris and Switzerland; and I could go through all of them, as we play in 27 different countries in four regions of the world.

The diversity is one of the greatest advantages, one of the greatest strengths that we have. We need to capitalise on that. But at the same time, we need to raise prize purses, increase playing opportunities and give our elite players an opportunity for a viable option to the PGA Tour. That won't happen overnight. That's not going to happen necessarily in 2016. You'll start to see it happen in 2017. You'll start to see it come to fruition in 2018. We definitely in three to five years will have a viable alternative, so that 17-, 18-, 19-year-old doesn't necessarily need to go to America to be able to make as much money as they possibly can.

How we're going to do that and how we're going to execute on that vision, as Thomas Edison said: "Vision without execution is hallucination." I definitely believe that we're not going to be hallucinating during this time. There are many ways that we will execute that. Obviously through television; obviously through sponsorship, partnerships, that we will provide significant more value to.

So that is something that I know that you are going to ask me about, so I was going to be proactive with that, and I believe that we will have a plan, and I believe we will have more information to share with you in the coming months.

So first and foremost, we will be releasing our 2016 schedule. It's something that we want to release earlier going forward, and we're committed to doing that. But today we are announcing it. We have 45 tournaments in 26 countries.

One of the keys, and I'm not going to walk you threw all of the highlights, but I'm excited about the EurAsia Cup. Darren Clarke is our captain. He's also the captain of The Ryder Cup in 2016. That's the second staging of the EurAsia Cup in January. And of course, The Ryder Cup, which is the 41st, I believe, in September.

I've just come back from touring the 2022 Ryder Cup bid cities, which the work that went into it from Austria, Germany, Spain and Italy, is nothing short of phenomenal. And going through that process, has even given me even more reason to be so excited for The Ryder Cup. And this will be my first Ryder Cup that I've attended next year in America.

Included, also important, is The Final Series. I've read a lot about The Final Series over the last three or month months. A lot of chat about why the WGC was in our Final Series.

Going forward, our Final Series will be three events. As you are aware, the BMW pulled out of China.

I can tell you that one of the strengths of The European Tour, and one of the reasons why we're as healthy as we are and have a position and an opportunity for me to focus on growth is because of the work of our Chief Operating Officer, Keith Waters. His institutional knowledge is terrific. He is absolutely brilliant, and he is the one that has brought Nedbank to the table as part of our Final Series in South Africa. It will move from 30 to 72 players, and The Final Series will now be three events.

Keith Waters, who is with us now -- stand up, Keith. We need a round of applause for Keith (applause).

That was a pretty feeble round of applause to be totally honest with you (laughter). I thought you were going to get a standing-O.

So Keith has been an absolute delight for me to work with, and has brought me up to speed so quickly, and I still have a lot to learn and will continue to learn with him. But the Nedbank as part of The Final Series is all Keith Waters working his magic. We have a three-year deal with Nedbank and that prize purse will be 7 million. So it will be 7 million, 7 million, 7 million and 8 million in 2016.

Membership criteria. And again, there has been a lot of conversation about this, both in the media and quite honestly, as somebody who has been in the media for so long, I love the speculation. I wish this room was double, triple. I wish more of you were writing about golf. Because it is fantastic. And it's been interesting to listen to the speculation about whether we are moving from 13 to 11, 13 to five, taking out the majors, and there was a time that some of the people said, well, we need to get out of this early.

I said, no, no, no, we want as much speculation as we possibly can. The more that you can write, the more that you can talk about golf, is terrific. It's been fantastic to get to know some of you. Again, as you know, my door is always open. I appreciate your writing for what you need to do, and it has been fun to actually read many of you over the last coming weeks.

After significant dialogue, conversations with all of our players, including three hours this week with Thomas BjÃ¶rn in London, we have made a decision to move from 13 to five, excluding the four majors and the four World Golf Championships. So our players now have to play in five events, as opposed to 13. But really, it really just simply excludes the WGCs and the majors. And the reason behind that was one of the -- one of the reasons was simple.

Another reason was to help some of the players that have been entrenched in the US. And it certainly came to light and came to the forefront after what transpired in Hong Kong with Ian Poulter. And him having to race around to play in Hong Kong, to make sure that he got those events.

This, I believe, will allow our players to schedule more efficiently, schedule at the beginning of the year, so they know exactly how they are going to maintain their membership.

As all our decisions that we have made, nothing is done willy-nilly. We forensically look at all of it. We talk to all levels of membership, our tournament committee, our board members, before we make this decision.

So, as of 2016, you need to play in five events but none of them are World Golf Championships or major championships.

So, finally, in summary, before we go to Q&A, and like I said, Keith Waters is available to give you more detail on anything that you need. I can tell you that we are going to be aggressive. We are going to make changes. We are going to experiment with format changes. We are going to increase prize purses at all levels, and we are going to provide greater playing opportunities for members at all levels.

We are going to significantly improve our players and our partners service levels. I believe having come in here, I knew there was a great opportunity. It's a greater opportunity than I originally thought.

And it's a greater opportunity that I originally thought because of what has been done in the past by the work by Ken Schofield, by the work by George O'Grady, by the work that Keith Waters has done; but the greatest opportunity that we have is the diversity and a world-class brand and a world-class tour that we have. And we can build on that diversity and most importantly, the players are the assets.

People ask me all the time: Are you enjoying being in the golf business. And I say, well, I don't look at it like that. I believe we're in the content business. I believe we're in the content entertainment business. And our players are our theatre. Our players are the quote, unquote, actors, that are providing all of the content. They are our stars. They are our recipe for success. But we are in the content business, and golf happens to be our platform.

So I do believe we have significant opportunity to grow. But this won't happen overnight. And I don't believe that there is anybody from what I have experienced -- and that has been so rewarding, from talking to the media, from talking to the partners, from talking to the players, that don't want us to grow. There's nobody. Everybody wants us to grow. Everyone is pulling for us. And what a terrific place to be in.

So it's not going to happen overnight. But it will happen, and it will happen with everybody in this room, including you in the media. I need your help. I need you to actually get to your editors and write more. I need the electronics to cover more. I need radio to be more engaged. We need to improve all facets of our television product, and ETP and SKY are certainly open to that. Television ratings are but a form of currency that drive revenue.

So everything needs to be part of it. We all need to pull on the same rope. But I think at the end of the day, everybody wants us to succeed, and for me, that's a wonderful position to be in.

So, I think some of the announcements that we've made today are positive announcements. It shows the diversity. It shows the opportunities, and it shows the flexibility that we have when we are listening to our players.

So I thank you for coming today. Hopefully in a year from now, we'll be having a completely different conversation as we get ready for the 2017 season. I'm thrilled and excited to be here about the opportunity and look forward to growing this together. Thank you. (Applause).

SCOTT CROCKETT: Thank you, Keith.

KEITH PELLEY: Keith Waters got bigger applause.

SCOTT CROCKETT: I'm sure you'll appreciate, a number of topics you want to ask Keith about.

Q. You mentioned obviously the word, other options, rather than going down to five it would have gone to 11 events. What swung it going to five and if everybody is happy with that, the rank-and-file members and the bigger stars?
KEITH PELLEY: I think we have complete alignment, or as in alignment as you possibly can as a members organisation.

I think it was a decision that we contemplated a number of different scenarios. We felt that removing the WGCs and removing the majors and making it simpler and clearer was the way to go.

I feel that it's very important that some of our strongest members have the opportunity that even if they fall out of the Top-50, based on their current scenario of playing two events, two tours, have the best opportunity to retain their membership.

So it wasn't something that we took lightly, but we believed that it was the right decision for The European Tour.

Q. Paul Casey was probably the one that started a lot of this narrative. Just wonder if you've had the chance to talk to him and is he going to rejoin?
KEITH PELLEY: I had a wonderful conversation with Paul. We spent three hours that ended in the parking lot with him helping me with my short game, which didn't really work too well. But Paul is obviously somebody that is completely entrenched in the US in Scottsdale.

It is, again, when you look long-term at our focus as we grow and we become a viable opportunity, that might have changed. But might now, he's 38 years old. He's entrenched in the US. He has a decision to make. I hope that he makes the decision to join the Tour, but I respect whatever Paul does.

But we had a terrific conversation, a very good conversation. I learned a tremendous amount about the history of the Tour, the history of his involvement, and he certainly provided a lot of food for thought and some of the great ideas that we will take going forward regardless of whether he joins or not. I hope that he makes a decision relatively shortly. We had some dialogue in the past couple of weeks, and I believe he will.

Q. Just to follow up with Paul Casey's question, when you say that the players have to play five tournaments, is one of those still going to be a home national or a home event?
KEITH PELLEY: It does, yes.

Q. Okay. Follow-up to that question. Your dealings with Thomas BjÃ¶rn, you said you had three hours with Thomas. Was it a big task to get Thomas to come around from backing down from 13?
KEITH PELLEY: Oh, no, no, no. When Thomas and I get together, it usually is three hours.

And he is -- you know, I could tell you that there's nobody that bleeds The European Tour like Thomas BjÃ¶rn. He cares; his passion; it's just absolutely amazing.

And the wealth of knowledge that he has: I basically just pepper him with questions and sit back and listen, and he has been just a wonderful sounding board on so many things for me, as the head of the tournament committee.

Thomas has been terrific, and this was a conversation that we had. He supported it 100 per cent, unwavering in his support. And that's kind of the way Thomas has been. He really, honestly, passionately cares about the Tour; and somebody that's running your tournament committee, you couldn't ask for anything more. I absolutely adore Thomas BjÃ¶rn.

Q. I wanted to ask you, last time when the decision was made to make it 13 counting events towards the membership, I think the thought was that they wanted more players to play more events in Europe. Now, I know the numbers, are almost similar, five not counting the WGCs and majors. How do you think the players are going to play more in Europe if you do this? And secondly, what's the relationship between the five events and The Final Series now? Do they have to play five events to qualify for The Final Series or five events --
KEITH PELLEY: No. It's the exact same as it is today. It's not different than it is today. The only thing is, you're taking out the majors and the WGCs. So it's no different at all.

In terms of playing, let's talk about nirvana, let's talk about what should really be happening. If we over the next number of years provide a viable alternative; if we are to actually create some marquee events; if we are to actually build the prize purse -- a lot of people talk about Wentworth as being a Flagship Event. Wentworth is 5.1 million Euros. The other event in the US that week is 6.1. That's unacceptable. Wentworth needs to be eight to 10 million dollars.

So the goal is, once you get to the point where there are opportunities for the players to play in that are incredibly viable, incredibly exciting, in unbelievable cities, then five should not be a problem. We want them to play more. But we'll want them to play more because they want to play more, not because you have to play more.

Q. But just to follow up to that, in that scenario, just taking an example of Rory, if he plays Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the start of the season, and then he just decides to play the three Final Series events, that's just fine with the Tour?
KEITH PELLEY: It's the exact same as he could do this year, as well. He could have done that in 2015.

First of all, in Rory, no, he won't be doing that because he'll be playing in The Irish Open, which, incidentally was something that Rory and I and his team discussed very early and we increased the prize purse from 2.5 to 4 million.

Now, you can say, is that 4 million enough. And I'm going to say, it can grow even beyond that. But from 2.5 to 4 million, all of a sudden, again, we're a members organisation, so the elite players are critical, but so are the medium and the low-ranked players. Now those medium and low-ranked players at The Irish Open are playing for 4 million, as opposed to 2.5.

A promotor asked me the other day about one of the events, but if we move it to 300,000 or 400,000, is that going to draw more players. I said no. But ours is a members organisation. That's going to actually allow some of those medium and low-ranked players to make more money, and I want to make more money for all of our members, all of our members.

But the answer to your question is: That could happen this year. That could happen in 2015.

Q. On the same topic, I would imagine most of the leading players will just play the five next year but three years down the line. How many do you envisage or hope they would play to create, as you say, the viable alternative?
KEITH PELLEY: That's an excellent question, Derek. I don't have an exact number on that. But I think what I believe that we'll have in three years, is if you were looking at a perfect opportunity, you looked at that 16- or 17-year-old person that is right now. That's where our sweet spot has to be is that 16- or 17-year-old superstar.

So when they are 21, now they have a decision to make. They are in the Top-50. They can play in four majors, they can play in four WGCs; that's eight. They are going to play in 20 or 22 events. We have now eight to ten events that the prize purse is very viable. Now they are up to 18, maybe with three or four invites in the US; we have provided them a viable alternative to play. So that would be a goal.

Q. What reason has Sergio GarcÃa given for not playing this week? I presume prize fund is not an issue there?
KEITH PELLEY: No, Sergio and I had dinner three weeks ago or so, and I knew Sergio wasn't playing at that particular time. One of the things that we will do going forward is to work with our elite athletes on the schedule so that we are further ahead and we know.

If Sergio was in the Top-10, he would be playing. He's obviously played well, well beyond his necessary requirements this year. He's been an unbelievable ambassador for The European Tour. He has done everything we have asked him to do.

So he's a world-class player with many different scheduling opportunities. This was one that unless he was in significant contention, that he was going to miss. It wasn't a surprise. It shouldn't be a surprise to anybody and wasn't a surprise to me after having dinner with him and actually going through that with him.

Q. Do you know what kind of message that sends as a precedent for players --
KEITH PELLEY: No, again, I focus on the players that are coming here. I don't know if the fact that Jason Day didn't play in the WGC, that that affected anything. So I don't think at all. I think that is the natural reaction that you will have. I think it's the wrong reaction. That's all -- that's just my opinion.

Q. You mentioned you were going to experiment with formats. Wonder if you can give us any details on that. And also a different question, is the intention to go back to four events in The Final Series from 2017 onwards?
KEITH PELLEY: The first question is: That is something that we are discussing and don't have anything to announce on that, but it's certainly something that we are contemplating.

In terms of the special formats, well, those are some of the most fun meetings you can have. We've brought in some of our board members and they all want to be part of it, determining different formats. Obviously the tournament committee have a lot of experience. There's great options to experiment on Tuesdays with some formats. I'm really not sure the Pro-Am format is the one that we will continue with long-term. I think that needs some fine-tuning for sure.

But what you do have is the opportunity, and with so many tournaments that we have, is the chance to experiment. And we have had some great conversations with promoters about -- and I won't get into it. It's tempting to get into some of the formats, but I won't until we have something a little more concrete. We'll try some new formats in the real near future.

Make no question about it: The 72-hole format, the traditional format, will always be a critical format. But, the way that people are participating in golf nowadays: We talk about the slow play, we talk about the speed of the game, we talk about the key, critical demographic being that millennial demo that are experiencing the game through gaming, through Topgolf, Adventure Golf which is critical, through pitch-and-putts, through nine holes.

I played the other day, and I only wanted to go play six or seven holes. It was tough because I couldn't get back to the clubhouse. So there are all kinds of different formats and different things that we can do, and so stay tuned.

Q. You spoke about diversity as one of your key features of the Tour, and I'm sure --
KEITH PELLEY: About what? I'm sorry. Diversity, yes.

Q. One of the things that has been quite unique about The European Tour has been the influence of Asia in The European Tour schedule and moving forward your merger of membership with the Asian tour and things like that, it is going to be critical again in the near future. Can you just give us any idea as to where the Tour is with The Asian Tour, the merger? And from what I have heard from the players, there's been a bit of negative feedback from The Asian Tour players who are a bit tentative about the proposal. Can you speak about that and where you guys stand?
KEITH PELLEY: Absolutely. We have had terrific conversations with The Asian Tour. We have moved the negotiations -- we are obviously in an exclusive negotiation window with an NDA signed. So we can't disclose too much information, but the conversations have been incredibly positive. I went over to Macau to spoke to The Asian Tour members for close to an hour. Shortly thereafter, there was a vote that was a positive vote for them to continue to give their board authorisation to continue with the negotiation.

I had correspondence over the last 24 hours with a critical member from The Asian Tour about the different opportunities. I believe that we will have a relationship with The Asian Tour. I believe the conversations will continue. And I think that we'll be able to hopefully announce something a little bit more concrete in Q1 or Q2.

There is definitely, when you're dealing with so many different variables, and with different types of players, both at all different levels, because some of the players play on The European Tour and some don't; different nationalities, different languages, education is very critical. And so our next conversations are going to be with key player representatives from the respective regions.

Q. Any kind of deadline that you have for the merger of membership?
KEITH PELLEY: I'm sorry?

Q. Is there any kind of deadline that you're looking at, any dates you're looking at? Is it 2017?
KEITH PELLEY: By the end of 2016, yes, it would be our deadline.

Q. Do you see any kind of conflict of interest? On one hand, you're talking about diversity, growing the game and all of those sort of aspects to it, and on the other hand, Wentworth is now turning itself into an ultra, ultra-exclusive club and obviously that is your base, and also the home of your Flagship Event. So what are the implications of that?
KEITH PELLEY: Well, I have to ask you first: If it's our flagship he went, what makes it our Flagship Event, would be the first question.

Q. Bearing in mind we've sat in every press conference for however many years being told it was the Flagship Event --
KEITH PELLEY: I'm telling you our Flagship Event right here is the DP World Championship which is 8 million dollars plus a bonus prize. I'm not sure how you couldn't say this wouldn't be our Flagship Event.

It has a fund of 5.1 million Euros. It's a terrific event with wonderful fan engagement with 125,000 fans that experience the game of golf, and the way that we actually present it should be applauded. The tournament committee under Jamie Birkmyre has done just a fantastic job. But I don't see it as our Flagship Event.

What the important thing is for me at Wentworth is what they do to the West Course and the investment that they are making into the West Course. From everything that I have heard, there is significant investment. At this particular time, the greens became a critical issue last year. In 2017, there was a detailed plan to significantly improve that. We are continuing onto Wentworth until at least 2018 and expect if, in fact, the West Course becomes exactly what they believe it, and that we can increase the prize purse, then perhaps it can be a Flagship Event going forward.

Q. But the changing nature of the Wentworth Club isn't a concern of the Tour or the event?
KEITH PELLEY: I think that the businessmen have the right. They have obviously purchased that. They can decide what they want to do and how they want to run the business. For us, the priority is the West Course. There are a lot of exclusive golf courses that are playing major events, and our priority would be the West Course and that tournament building over time into, as you've said, a Flagship Event.

But, you know, you won't hear me say it's our Flagship Event right now.

Q. Back to the question of players having to play five tournaments, is that going to attract more American players to play on the European Tour and if so, are you encouraging that?
KEITH PELLEY: I'd be encouraging world-class players to play in our tournaments. Whether that means that some of the American players will decide to come over and play in the European Tour, if they are world-class players, then by all means, we want the best players playing in our tournament.

It wasn't something that we went, if we move it to five, we're going to have significant US players playing in our tournament. I don't see that being the case. There are obviously a number of restrictions for US players to play over here in Europe based on their current configuration and the way that it is operated on the PGA Tour.

But if we were to find world-class players that come over from the US, then by all means, we would except that.

Q. Just as a follow-up question, you talked about one of the challenges that the Tour faces is slow play. Speaking to Thomas, he said it's on the agenda of every meeting he's ever chaired; and talking to Andy McFee in Portugal, he said he's been on the Tour for 30 years and he does not know any way at the moment how encourage players to play faster except when he's around. So I just wonder how big a challenge it's going to be slow play, which is the biggest complaint for amateurs, as well.
KEITH PELLEY: Well, we'll have to clone Andy, I guess. We'll need him everywhere.

I think there's a number of different ways, and there are actually a couple of creative mini-tours that are doing it right now. If you look at the ECCO Tour and what they are doing is innovative.

I believe with the world of technology, with what we can do on our phones, what we can do on the Internet, certainly we can find a way to monitor slow play in a more effective way.

This is a problem and it is on the agenda, and we are going to take a leading role in dealing with this issue.

Q. Quickly going back to my namesake, and Scott might know the answer to this, I understand he has until Sunday to join the Tour in time for next season; that is correct? And if so, and if he doesn't, can he join at any time going forward if he decides to join in the middle of January, for example?
SCOTT CROCKETT: In the best category, I'm going to pass that to Keith Waters.

KEITH PELLEY: He can join anytime after the season starts after next week until May the 1st.

KEITH PELLEY: Any other questions, worries, concerns, problems?

SCOTT CROCKETT: Are we all done ladies and gentlemen.

KEITH PELLEY: Listen, I just want to thank everybody for coming. I want to thank you again for writing. Anybody that I haven't met from the media perspective, you're more than happy -- it's an open invitation to come up and have coffee with me at Wentworth. I only drink decaf. But I'd love to see you. I thank you for the support. We're going to be in for a great run over the next three years. Thank you.

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