Palmer sees World Tour as sport's future

Golfing great Arnold Palmer said it was simply a matter of time before a genuine World Tour was set up.

The European Tour now travels to Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East while the US PGA Tour also attracts players from across the globe.

But Palmer told Reuters in an interview he envisaged golf creating an elite World Tour fed by national and regional circuits.

"I think golf will expand," he said. "The type of tours that we are playing today will only expand more and I would expect one day in the not too distant future we will have a worldwide tour.

"That will be the major tour. The US, Europe, Australia, South Africa will have their individual tours and they in turn will lead the players to the World Tour. I think it is just a question of time."

Palmer, 78, who is hosting this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational PGA Tour event at his Bay Hill Club, played a big role in popularising golf in the 1960s with his charisma and his rapport with fans taking the game out of the preserve of country club roots and into the mass market and world of television.

He also brought an increased international flavour to the British Open, his wins in 1961 and 1962 encouraging many more Americans to follow him on to the links courses of the UK.

MODERN ERA

Still heavily involved in the game, Palmer said he would love to be playing in the modern era.

"I would have loved what is happening today," he said. "I would have loved the tour, the competition and certainly I miss it very much.

"If I had the opportunity and was young again I would be right out there," added Palmer.

"I have a feeling about what happens today versus what happened when I was a player but I think I would adapt to what the conditions are today just as I did 20, 30, 50 years ago."

World number one Tiger Woods landed his 63rd PGA Tour title last month to edge ahead of Palmer into fourth place on the all-time list. Only Sam Snead (82), Jack Nicklaus (73) and Ben Hogan (64) have won more.

Palmer tipped the 32-year-old Woods to become the first player to win a calendar grand slam of all four majors although he was cautious about comparing players from different eras.

"I think if you take a great player from 50 or 100 years ago, that person playing today would be just as great as he was then," he said after cutting the ribbon on a mobile mini-museum of his career created by Ketel One Vodka.

"To say Byron Nelson is better than Tiger Woods, well there is no way you can tell that...they would be comparable in the same era because they are both great players," added Palmer, who won two of the four majors in a season three times in the early 1960s.

"You can't say one player is better than another from a different era. But you can't stop opinions and you are going to get opinions."