European Tour's Pelley welcomes Oman's addition to the circuit

The European Tour events in 2018 have gone up to 51 tournaments, with the addition of the NBO Oman Golf Classic from Feb. 15-18 at the Al Mauj Golf course in Muscat.
Oman is the third GCC country to host a European Tour event after three championships in the UAE and one in Qatar. 
"Oman, I think it's a great success story to be honest with you," Keith Pelley, the European Tour Chief Executive, said during a media briefing on Sunday at the Jumeirah Golf Estate.
"I know Oman is thrilled. We are thrilled to be going to Oman. It gives us a wonderful opportunity to come to the Middle East three times (countries four events) in our schedule where our players love to play, the golf courses are great and the weather is terrific," he said in reply to a question. 
He said that the creation of a new event in Oman and a new event in the Philippines had upped playing opportunities for the Tour members in 2018.
Pelly was all praise for the Rolex Series. "The Rolex Series has been remarkably successful. The creation of the Series has provided a wonderful option for the top players. And they have embraced it," he said proudly. 
"It's important for the Rolex Series to have great events on great golf courses, and make it extremely easy for the players to navigate around that particular city," said the European Tour chief.
In terms of the strength of field, he revealed that there has been a 12 per cent increase in the strength of field across the events in 2017 events compared to the 2016 events. "Seven of the eight events were the strongest events that particular week in the world of golf in terms of strength of field."
"The Rolex Series Events saw some 35 per cent increase in media value. So when you look at the metrics that measure, the Rolex Series has been a gargantuan success, I would say," he added.
He also claimed that the purse, after the creation of the Rolex Series, had significantly enhanced.  "The 100th-ranked player in 2016, which was Pelle Edberg, won 275,000 Euros; and the 100th-ranked player in 2017, Lasse Jensen, made 389,000 Euros. So that's a significant increase from a prize purse perspective," he elaborated. 
"Based on the fact that we are in 30 countries, we have 46 tournaments next year in 30 different countries," Pelly boasted about the growth of the European Tour, which will go to three more new countries in 2018. 
He also had a good word about the season-ending DP World Tour, "DP World, which is a sensational event, and you think about it, we have 58 of our 60 players in The Race to Dubai, and the only two players who aren't here are injured; players love coming here. The weather is nothing short of sensational. It's one of the easiest jobs I think is to be the weatherman in Dubai and just say, "31 and sunny every day," he enthused. 
sunilvaidya@khaleejtimes.com