Q&A with George O'Grady, recipient of the KPMG Lifetime Achievement Award

<strong><em>Extracts of Q&A with George O’Grady, recipient of the KPMG Lifetime Achievement Award, with CNN’s Don Riddell</em></strong>

<strong>You have been involved in golf for nearly 40 years now, does it feel that long?</strong><br />Funnily enough it doesn’t. It is hard to believe it has been nearly 40 years with all the different roles in that time from referee to course set up and staging events to trying to develop at a business around the world. You are always moving forwards. Everyone in this room has businesses to look after and you don’t get anywhere looking backwards, you have to look forwards.

<strong>What do you think has been the biggest change that you have seen?</strong><br />It is an easy one really because we started as the British PGA, we amalgamated with what was then called the Continental Tournament Players Association of Europe and then went into Africa, had a brief spell in the Caribbean and really looked at the world. The first move outside Europe was to Tunisia, the first outside the definition of European boundaries. My predecessor at The European Tour, Ken Schofield said it was not about geography, it was about its members and we welcome members from all over the world, based only on ability. Developing the game in all these different countries, and at home, has been a very satisfying key.

<strong>What are you most proud of during your tenure at The European Tour?</strong><br />I think holding a very strong structure together, developing the tournaments in other parts of the world, recreating it as a business operation that has the responsibility for many people that are in the business of golf – the business of tourism, business of developing societies, keeping the values of golf and making it receptive to big business who see the value of associating themselves with our particular sport, what it does for the youth of today and generally drives business.

<strong>What are the biggest challenges that face the European Tour now?</strong><br />An often overused word is global but the game has become global as you can see from the structures we have put in place with all the different countries, the decision of golf to go into the Olympic Games which we all fought so hard for. You can see how things are developing around the world. You won’t see necessarily the individual games themselves having great resonance immediately but in every different country it is now an Olympic sport, it is acceptable and you can look at the number of courses being built in China, in India, Malaysia, South Africa wherever we go in the world and right at the top of the game, we at The European Tour and world golf which includes the PGA Tour and everyone else, must inspire – we must inspire the youth of today, must inspire people of our age to play more golf and see the benefits of it. Holding the game together at the very top end and working out our partnership with the PGA Tour and all the other developing tours is the next stage.

<strong>The European Tour is in effect a world tour now – would you rename it as such?</strong><br />We talked about this when we launched The Race to Dubai and whether the European Tour was the right name. Our partners around the world said they liked the values the European Tour stood for. If you change the name there are all different connotations. We did change the logo, amalgamated history with the Harry Vardon silhouette and created the new grand trophy for Dubai, so brought ancient and modern together. So we want to hold on to the core values of golf, but not get caught up on the past. We are taking the game to the future.

<strong>Rory McIlroy is now arguably the game’s biggest star – how do you feel about him committing to the PGA Tour and is that to the detriment to the European Tour?</strong><br />You can’t say it is to the detriment of the European Tour. I use the phrase they fly the flag for the European Tour in America. We have got to raise our game, come up with different marketing techniques to encourage these players to come back. We will be linking on key dates and looking at when we have strength on our side. We are facing a big challenge, no doubt about it with the PGA Tour. But we have great loyalty. We had all 12 Ryder Cup players in a room just before our Players’ Awards dinner recently and we sat down and talked about what we could do about it. They don’t want to see the rest of the world fade away, they want us to be strong and to compete. We have to decide how much we partner with America, how much we can do together and we jointly look at the world.

<strong>How much stock is placed in the success of The Ryder Cup – would it make any difference if you hadn’t won six of the last eight and maybe only won two?</strong><br />I don’t think the winning or losing would ultimately hurt the European Tour as long as it was close. Half a point either way – I don’t think you want to lose in the country as happened in the 1970s before becoming Europe – but I said to Commissioner Finchem after Celtic Manor, as the leaders of our professional sport we are beholden to bottling that emotion. All that fun on the first tee yet absolute silence hitting a shot. All the players so committed. I call The Ryder Cup the glue that holds the European Tour together. When we had those 12 players in a room and then on stage at our awards dinner in black ties with their captain and their belief is a wonderful spirit for the sport which keeps everyone committed to The European Tour.

<strong>On that note, two weeks ago yourself and Sergio were involved in a controversy over certain comments that were made. You have both publically apologised but it has led some to question the image of golf in general – how do you respond to that?</strong><br />At the end of that week we had record attendances at the BMW PGA Championship, despite the appalling weather on the Friday, and we are seeing that wherever we go in the world. It was won by a young Italian Matteo Manassero, winning for the fourth time on The European Tour and he has just turned 20 – so three wins in his teens. At the same time a player who is the very embodiment of the European Tour with his character, individuality and charisma, Miguel Angel Jiménez, was playing his 600th event as a professional and he was one shot away from making the play-off. Wherever we go in the world, I am very proud of the fact that we have brought the game of golf to so many different countries and so many different cultures. We have co-sanctioned 171 tournaments in virtually all corners of the globe. We have been made universally welcome and we continue to be so. We are welcomed throughout the world to stage, promote and co-sanction events, I think we have opened our doors to the world and the recognition today in receiving this award speaks volumes not just for me, not just for the European Tour and our players, but for so many people who contribute to the growth of the game throughout the world.