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I have had time to reflect on our first venture into event promotion on the European Tour and, without wanting to sound at all boastful, I don't think we made a bad fist of it. |
Having looked from the management side of events as well, there were few things I feel we could have improved on although I was more than a little dismayed to discover very late in the week that Sky Television was restricting its third day's coverage to just 90 minutes.
Although I have extended congratulations on a job well done to all my team, I feel special praise should go to the Marriott Forest of Arden for providing us with a great golf course. It's condition was similar to what we have come to expect of places such as Valderrama so all credit to the golf team at what is fast becoming one of Britain's finest inland courses.
We tried to make everybody who attended feel special, not least the players, who went out of their way to ensure they supported our efforts in every way possible and also provided us with some top class competition.
Champion Greg Owen deservedly collected the cap and gown that goes with passing The Masters degree and although he is no longer in our stable, it was rewarding to know that we had helped him along the way during his career.
One thing is for certain, however. No matter how well things went first time out, we will work tirelessly in our efforts to ensure that next year's event is even bigger and better. For sure, there will be a few surprises… and maybe one very big one. Watch this space.
Before then, our players have a lot of incentive to perform to their maximum in the coming weeks as we build up to The Open at Sandwich. I have always felt that this is the Major that represents our best chance of getting our first grand slam event winner. There is no reason why we should not launch a bid from several fronts, particularly now that we can count Paul Casey and Phil Mickelson among our team.
It's onwards and upwards for us all and if the first half of the season has not quite gone according to plan, I have a good feeling that much better times are ahead.
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