Mr. Goldrian, the richest season in the history of the EPD Tour has drawn to a close with the Fulda EPD Tour Championship. The 20 tournaments of the year 2010 were endowed with a total of 610,000 euros. As a result, there was as much prize money to win as never before for the players. How satisfied are you with the 2010 EPD Tour?  

We are very satisfied with the progression of the tour. During the 20 tournaments we have had a healthy mix of traditional and first-time organisers. The tournaments at the beginning of the year in Turkey are traditionally extremely popular among the players, the new events in Morocco fit in smoothly here. Many professionals – who do not primarily play on the EPD Tour, but whose traditional tours do not offer any winter tournaments – were at the start in Turkey as well as in Morocco. But at the events in Germany we were also able to be pleased with the brisk throng of new players. We have successfully recruited and enticed these players away elsewhere via the quality of our own product.

Question 2:

Three German players and members of the PGA of Germany finished first to third in the end. Is this a convincing success for the young German professionals?  

Undoubtedly, whereby it naturally applies to classify this success realistically: the number of German players on the EPD Tour is naturally very high, insofar it is obvious that quite a few Germans also qualify for the Challenge Tour. But undoubtedly the three players who concluded the 2010 season on the podium spots were also convincing throughout the entire year. And this entails an increasingly larger number of players who are able to win a tournament! Benjamin Miarka, Max Kramer and Daniel Wünsche undoubtedly have the potential to hold their own on the Challenge Tour. Of course, the same goes for Grant Jackson and Tim Sluiter, the players ranked fourth and fifth.

Question 3:

In your eyes, how is it that players who qualify for the Challenge Tour via one of the altogether four satellite tours, to which also belongs the EPD Tour, nevertheless often are not successful there, are rewound to the EPD Tour, and then only gain a foothold in the second or even third attempt on the Challenge Tour? Which part of the preparation for the life as a playing professional can the EPD Tour quite obviously not always achieve at the first go?

To the same extent as the level has increased on the four satellite tours, this also happened on the Challenge Tour – not the least, since yes, also from above, from the European Tour, quite a few strong playing professionals are relegated. Unlike on the satellite tours, life on the Challenge Tour is associated with much more travel stress – the players fly from tournament to tournament, whereas they were able to arrive by car beforehand. Naturally the costs are correspondingly higher, the pressure to perform increases. At the same time there are fewer social contacts, since the former colleagues are still playing on the satellite tour. The players suddenly earn much less money as with a comparable performance on the satellite tour. But at the same time they must clearly increase their performance, because the places are partially even more demanding insofar as layout and setup are concerned. All these factors lead to the fact that players first of all struggle to make the cut after the advancement.

Question 4:

Within the satellite tours the EPD Tour is becoming more and more popular from year to year among players from throughout Europe, while as principal owner of the tour the PGA of Germany annually invests in increasingly better infrastructure and organisation of the tour. Where do you see the emphases of the work in these sectors in the coming two years?

Our task is to provide a strong tour with regard to the quality of the playing field, the organisation and the course. The members of the EPD Tour should find outstanding conditions, starting from the general tour organisation via the training conditions right up to the tournament itself. This is our focus, and the throng of many foreign players confirms the accuracy of our emphases. In the second line, we want to moderately and incrementally raise the prize money in the coming years, but without having to increase the entry fees for this purpose.

Question 5:

Which concrete plans for innovations or changes are there for the 2011 season? 

No changes are planned with regard to the structure of the tour and the individual tournaments. We start the tournament year again in the end of January in Belek, where three tournaments are planned, then six further tournaments in Morocco follow in the end of February/beginning of March and mid-April. For these and all other tournaments of the 2011 season it applies that we would like to further improve the quality of the individual events as well as the service which we offer the players. Higher prize money is also a topic, but naturally this topic depends on talks which we are conducting with potential sponsors and on possible new strategic partners.

Question 6:

Which players do you see at the very forefront of the tour in the coming year? 

All who are focussed on this profession and thereby bring along much talent and diligence.

Question 7:

Should Germany get the nod for the Ryder Cup in April 2011? Will this also have effects on the tour?

We are convinced of this. Alone the – downright welcome – obligation to then organise tournaments in all levels will yield a further invigoration of the entire golf market in Germany. Moreover, we hope that the interest in golf sponsoring behind the locomotive Ryder Cup will generally increase.

Many thanks for the interview!