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THE Royal Golf Club remains bullish over its chances of securing a European Tour event in the future although executives admit ‘no firm decision’ has been made over staging the Volvo Golf Champions 2012 tournament.
The club’s general manager Susan Stephenson issued a statement to members after GulfWeekly revealed last week that the event was likely to be moved to South Africa and would not open the European Tour season in the kingdom as previously announced by the organisers.
“Representatives from IMG and Volvo visited Bahrain in early May for a ‘debrief’ of the highly-successful 2011 event and to start the initial planning stages for the 2012 tournament,” she said.
“During their visit they met with the Royal Golf Club’s executive team and with representatives of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (BEDB) and again expressed their satisfaction with the inaugural event in 2011.
“Volvo and IMG are still in discussions about the venue for the Volvo Golf Champions 2012 tournament and no firm decision has yet been reached.”
This is despite Volvo Event Management president Per Ericsson, above, right, publically stating in January that the European Tour was set to break new ground with a ‘winners’ only’ event in Bahrain to start the new season. The Volvo Golf Champions event was to be the first tournament of the 2012 Race to Dubai schedule.
According to sources, the Gardener Ross Golf Club, the first Ernie Els Signature Golf Course in Gauteng, has been earmarked to host it at a later date, although there is some debate in golfing circles that too many events are being staged annually in South Africa and that there is not an ‘appetite’ for a fifth.
It is believed senior members of the BEDB met with event organisers again last weekend in London. According to Stephenson, Volvo, IMG and the European Tour remain ‘extremely supportive’ of Bahrain as a tour venue and ‘look forward’ to holding future events here.
They will now be fully aware that a National Dialogue has started in Bahrain between all parties in a bid to secure a peaceful, united future for the kingdom.
However, it may be too late as the organisers remain nervous over the unrest the country experienced earlier this year and ‘hedged their bets’ by finding an alternative venue. They say nothing has changed since last week’s statement from Ericsson to GulfWeekly: “Due to what happened in Bahrain after our tournament, we, the European Tour and Volvo Event Management - Golf, have not yet made up our minds for 2012, but will do so in August at the latest,” he said.
The question remains, will the sport’s senior executives prove supportive or act like ‘fair weather friends’ by putting off a new tour date in Bahrain until 2013?
