SHANGHAI – Rory McIlroy finally climbed out of bed 10 pounds lighter from a bout of food poisoning and made six birdies for a 68. Jordan Spieth returned from his longest break without touching his golf clubs. He also had six birdies in a round of 68. Both felt good about their start Thursday in the HSBC Champions.

It just wasn’t enough to be anywhere near the lead.

Branden Grace of South Africa, a month removed from his sterling performance in the Presidents Cup, made birdie on half of his holes at soft, vulnerable Sheshan International for a 9-under 63. It was the lowest opening round in the 11-year history of this World Golf Championship.

And all that got him was a one-shot lead.

“Today was phenomenal out there,” Grace said. “Barely had a breath of wind out there and the golf course is playing probably as easy as it could be playing. There’s some low scores out there. The guys are playing some great golf, and when you play on greens like this, it helps. You just have to get the ball on the right line and it goes in. It was fun.”

He made it sound simple, and the numbers backed him up.

The 78-man field produced 344 birdies and nine eagles, and it was a collective 189-under par.

Kevin Kisner made his debut in China by playing bogey-free for a 64. He was joined by Steven Bowditch of Australia and Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark, who opened with five birdies in six holes and was 7 under through 10 holes. It was enough to make Olesen wonder how low he could go, though that ended when he made a sloppy bogey on the par-5 14th and he had to settle for a 64.

Dustin Johnson, who won the HSBC Champions the last time he was here two years ago, drilled a 3-wood over the water and onto the green at the par-5 second hole and made eagle that helped send him to a 65 along with Patrick Reed and Danny Willett, who is No. 2 in the Race to Dubai in his bid to track down McIlroy.

At least McIlroy is playing.

He spent most of the previous two days in bed trying to cope with food poisoning. His stomach was so sore and his body so stiff that he arrived earlier than usual to get loose on the range, and he wasn’t sure what to expect when he teed it up at Sheshan for the first time in two years.

“Probably a little better than I was expecting out there, to be honest,” McIlroy said. “I had not been out of bed for basically 48 hours, so I was really stiff. But whenever I got out there, I felt pretty good. Thankfully, it was a decent start, and now going to try to just get into the tournament.”

Spieth wasn’t sure what to expect, either.

He didn’t see his golf clubs for two weeks after returning home from South Korea at the Presidents Cup, the end of a season that brought a Masters and U.S. Open, the FedEx Cup and PGA Tour player of the year. Spieth showed some uncertainty with an extra waggle in his pre-shot routine as he tries to keep the club from getting shut.

For the most part, it worked out fine. The one big miss was his tee shot on the par-3 17th, so weak and to the right that it didn’t even clear the hazard. Spieth recovered by going to the drop zone, hitting over the gorge to 5 feet and escaping with bogey. He also hit driver to 20 feet for a two-putt birdie on the reachable 16th, and two late birdies in his round brought him to 68.

“I hit some shots that looked like we were just continuing the end of the season,” Spieth said. “And I hit some that looked like I took some time off. It was a bit of both. All in all, I was very pleased. Obviously, I thought 4 under would be further up the leaderboard than it is, but there’s a lot of guys playing solid golf right now.”

Spieth played with Watson, who hardly played at all since the Presidents Cup and said nothing felt comfortable. He celebrated his 37th birthday by opening with eight straight pars, picking up four birdies and keeping bogeys off his card.

Players were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls in the short grass, which added to the low scores. That led to a two-shot penalty for Adam Scott, however, who chipped to tap-in range on the par-3 sixth, only to look back and realize he might have been in the rough. That’s a two-shot penalty, except that Scott was given the wrong ruling by being told to replay the shot. After a 30-minute discussion, officials found a decision based on equity that kept his score to a double bogey. It didn’t help much. He shot 75.

At this rate, Johnson figures something around 20 under will win. Grace wasn’t willing to guess on a winning score. For all those birdies, he still was barely in front.

“Long way to go,” Grace said.

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Jack Nicklaus says he was “saddened” to learn of plans to redevelop Glen Abbey Golf Club, the first course the legendary golfer designed himself.

But he understands business is business.

In late October, course owner ClubLink Corporation filed preliminary paperwork to convert the Oakville, Ont., club into a residential community, featuring 3,000 homes, along with offices and retail space.

“We have been in communication with the leadership at ClubLink and they have fully explained the process to date and local economic conditions driving the potential redevelopment of the Glen Abbey site,” Nicklaus told The Canadian Press through a statement. “While it saddens me personally to think the site of my first solo golf course design might be repurposed, we understand and respect the business decisions being made.”

A development consulting firm submitted the request to city council on behalf of ClubLink Corporation, which in addition to Glen Abbey, owns more than 40 courses in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Florida.

Arguably Canada’s most iconic golf course, Glen Abbey has hosted the Canadian Open 27 times, including earlier this year.

Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons said the news isn’t of immediate concern to the business of the sport’s governing body or the Canadian Open.

“The estimates are that this will be a playable golf course for another five years, if not 10,” explained Simmons. “When we’re looking at our rotation for the Canadian Open, we’re not five years out, we’re not even three years out. It gives us a lot of time to work on our future planning.”

Located on more than 200 acres of prime real estate some 40 kilometres west of Toronto, Glen Abbey was built in 1976 at a cost of $2 million. The Royal Canadian Golf Association (now known as Golf Canada) purchased the course for $3 million in 1981 from Great Northern Capital. ClubLink became the owner in 1998, paying the RCGA $40 million, a fraction of what the property would be worth now.

York Downs, a private club in Markham, Ont., just north of Toronto, recently sold to developers for $412 million.

ClubLink’s chief executive officer Rai Sahi, who is also the CEO at the real estate company Morguard Corporation, said the first steps in the re-zoning process will take at least four years to complete.

Glen Abbey has only about 400 members, he said, and redeveloping the space would provide a much wider benefit to the community and feed more taxes to the city.

“Our intention would be to build a pretty high-end, luxury community, with commercial office space and dining and all kinds of things,” he said. “That would be a lot more attractive than a few hundred people playing golf.”

The initial proposal includes turning the half-dozen holes in the valley beside Sixteen Mile Creek into a public park.

“Right now it’s not accessible to the public, it’s only accessible to those who are playing golf,” he said. “The valley will become more popular than the golf course Glen Abbey.”

While Simmons has been a long-time advocate of moving Canada’s national open around the country, he knows the event must make economic sense.

“At the end of the day, one of the main driving purposes of the open is to create a revenue stream that can help develop the grassroots of the game,” he said. “The Canadian Open is not the U.S. Open, you have to look the circumstances in this country. One of those options is to look at a permanent site.”

Glen Abbey will still host the 2016 RBC Canadian Open, and Simmons confirmed the club is “definitely” one Golf Canada is looking at to host in 2017 as well. That decision, Simmons said, will be made “as soon as possible.”

SHANGHAI – Adam Scott hasn’t read caddie Steve Williams’ book about Tiger Woods and doesn’t expect it to be a distraction when Williams is working for him.

“I haven’t been lucky enough to get a copy. Must be in the mail still,” Scott said Thursday after his opening round at the HSBC Champions. “I don’t know exactly what’s in the book. As I said, I haven’t read it. I think everyone knows probably what to expect.”

Williams worked 13 years for Woods during the peak of his career. Their relationship became strained after Woods was embroiled in a sex scandal at the end of 2009, and it ended in the summer of 2011 shortly after Williams caddied for Adam Scott in the U.S. Open while Woods was recovering from leg injuries.

Williams had been talking about a book since then, though he was concerned about a non-disclosure agreement he had with the 14-time major champion. The book, “Out of the Rough,” was published in New Zealand.

A New Zealand newspaper published a chapter of the book in which Williams described his anger and frustration at being “hung out to dry” by Woods’ management as his multiple infidelities were being revealed. Williams complained about Woods’ behavior on the course and wrote, “It was like I was his slave.”

That line has led to heavy criticism, especially considering that Williams became rich working for Woods. One year, Williams was reported to be the highest-paid sports celebrity in New Zealand.

In an interview Thursday with Australian Associated Press, Williams said he was disappointed his publishers highlighted that excerpt in promoting his book. He said the “slave” reference was “one word, one sentence, out of a whole book.”

He said it was “one word that could have been changed” when writing his memoir.

Williams has been working with Scott the last four years. He said he was retiring after 2014, but he agreed to come back at the U.S. Open this year and plans to work 10 tournaments this season in a job share.

This isn’t the first time Scott has received more questions about his caddie than his own golf.

Immediately after Scott won the Bridgestone Invitational in 2011, Williams gave a TV interview on the 18th green in which he called it the “best win I’ve ever had,” even though he was on the bag for 13 majors with Woods, including his unprecedented sweep of the majors in 2000-01.

Later that year in Shanghai during the annual Caddies Awards roast at the HSBC Champions, Williams was given the “Celebration of the Year” award for that TV interview. When he came on stage to accept, Williams shocked the room by saying, “It was my aim to shove it right up that black a——.”

Scott was grilled each day about whether he should fire Williams. He noted the caddie apologized to Woods and said that was enough for him.

Asked if he expected Williams to write a sequel, Scott laughed and said, “I’m going to be on my best behavior so there isn’t one.”

RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – Five-time major champion Phil Mickelson has decided to leave swing coach Butch Harmon after eight years.

Mickelson said in a statement Wednesday to Golf.com that he has learned a great deal from Harmon since they began working together in 2007. Mickelson said at this time he needs to “hear new ideas from a different perspective.”

Shortly after he began working with Harmon, Mickelson won The Players Championship and then added the Deutsche Bank Championship while going head-to-head with Tiger Woods. Mickelson joked that Harmon taught him nuances of playing with Woods from Harmon’s decade of working with Woods.

Mickelson won 15 times with Harmon, including the Masters in 2010 and British Open in 2013.

He did not indicate who his next coach would be.

The San Diego Padres have partnered with Callaway Golf to present The Links at Petco Park – a once-in-a-lifetime experience marrying golf with baseball. From November 5-8, the home of the Padres will serve as a truly unique nine-hole golf experience.

The course begins on a putting green in the dugout of the home team. Golfers will then ascend to the ballpark’s upper deck for four holes where they will hit onto the field. No. 6 will see players tee off from field level near the Western Metal Supply Co. building before making their way to the Batter’s Eye in centerfield for No. 7. The bullpen houses the green for No. 8 while the rooftop of the Western Metal Supply Co. building sets the stage for the final hole.

Each hole features a special theme with an opportunity to win various prizes. At the end of the day, golfers will be able to take-in the experience from The Loft which will be converted into the Callaway Clubhouse.

All 1,600 available tee times were quickly booked when opened to the public, but with 29 other Major League Baseball teams, hopefully the idea catches on.

The Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada announced today that SportBox Entertainment Group in partnership with the Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation will serve as the host organization of the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open, Saskatchewan’s Mackenzie Tour event, transitioning from eight years under VMC Sports & Entertainment Group.

Led by tournament director Hugh Vassos, the event has become a mainstay on the Mackenzie Tour schedule for the past eight seasons. “I have been privileged to work with Chief Darcy Bear and his people at the Whitecap Dakota First Nation, Saskatoon, other Saskatchewan communities, SIGA, SaskTel and all other past sponsors, and of course the best volunteers. I am proud of how the event has grown from an upstart event to a mainstay stop on the Mackenzie Tour,” said Vassos. “It’s been a great run for the past eight years, however in order to help manage its continued growth, it is time for new leadership. I am excited to see the involvement of the Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation with SportBox. Graham played the event twice and I think this is a natural progression to have their foundation now take an active role in the Saskatchewan tournament. I look forward to seeing the event make an even greater impact in the province going forward.”

“I’d like to thank Hugh for all his hard work in making the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open a success for the last eight seasons, growing it from nothing into what it is today and providing a foundation for it to continue to flourish. The tournament is among the players’ favourite stops every year and we’re looking forward to seeing it make an even greater impact going forward with the Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation,” said Mackenzie Tour President Jeff Monday.

Vassos will remain involved with the Tour in a consulting role going forward. SportBox Entertainment Group, a sport, lifestyle and entertainment firm that has business verticals in event management, consulting and talent representation, will assume operational control of the event. Graham DeLaet, a talent client of SportBox, will see his foundation as the driving force behind the event to raise funds for local charitable initiatives. SportBox Group, will work in collaboration with the Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation to ensure the event’s continued success, while integrating a strong community-centric focus.

With the event taking place in his home province of Saskatchewan, and DeLaet being an alumnus of the Mackenzie Tour, it was a natural fit for him to get involved. The Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation, which Graham started with wife Ruby in 2014, will work with SportBox to identify a local cause to support through the event to give back to the community.

The Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation was launched with a central focus on supporting children’s health and wellness, as well as supporting the development of junior golfers at all levels. Since 2011, Graham and Ruby DeLaet’s charitable initiatives have raised over $1 million for causes and organizations across Canada including the Children’s Wish Foundation of Saskatchewan, the Ronald McDonald House of Saskatchewan, the Weyburn & District Hospital Foundation, the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan, and the Calgary Flames Foundation.

“As an alumnus of the Tour, and the opportunity to be part of an event in my backyard, it made sense for me to team up with my agency so that Ruby and I can support the event, while also using it as a means to give back to charitable initiatives in my home province,” said Graham DeLaet. “I’m excited to work with SportBox and the Tour on shaping what the event will look like.”

“We launched our Foundation when Graham was at a point in his career that it made sense to start giving back to the people that supported him along his journey to the PGA TOUR,” said Ruby DeLaet. “Our Foundation represents Graham’s roots in Canada by supporting local causes that are close to us, and we’re excited to make a positive impact in the Saskatchewan community with this event partnership.”

The team at SportBox is also connected to the Saskatchewan market with a corporate office located in Saskatoon.

“This initiative is a strategic fit for SportBox because of the company’s presence in Saskatchewan, relationship and collaboration with Graham, and him having roots in the province and being embedded in the community,” said David Dube, Chairman of SportBox Entertainment Group. “We look forward to working with the event stakeholders and community partners to identify a local cause that the event supports each year, in addition to providing a great experience for players and spectators.”

SIGA (Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority) will continue to host the tournament as the event’s title sponsor. The tournament will be played at Dakota Dunes Golf Links, a SCORE Golf top 100-ranked course laid spaciously throughout natural sand dune formations and the indigenous prairie grasses that surround its edges.

“For the past eight years SIGA has been proud to be the title sponsor for Saskatchewan’s premier golf event – The SIGA Dakota Dunes Open. I would like to thank our fellow sponsors, the Mackenzie Tour and the many organizers and volunteers who make professional golf a reality in Saskatchewan. We look forward to working with the team at SportBox Entertainment Group in partnership with the Graham and Ruby DeLaet Foundation,” said Zane Hansen, President and CEO, Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA).

The date for the 2016 SIGA Dakota Dunes Open will be announced at a later date.

SHANGHAI (AP) — Bubba Watson is in China this week, Japan next week, and there’s one more stop in Thailand before the year is over.

Golf is more global than ever, and the two-time Masters champion wants to be part of it.

“I wanted to win outside the U.S.,” Watson said Wednesday on the eve of his title defense in the HSBC Champions. “And after getting a taste of victory outside the U.S. here last year, I want to do that again. I’m going to try to do it again.”

Watson was portrayed as an uncultured American four years ago when he went to France and didn’t have the best week, which included comments about historic sites without knowing what they were.

But he’s getting the hang of it.

“Getting better as a golfer, as a person, I want to try different cultures and learn different golf courses in different areas of the world,” Watson said. “And so for me, it’s just fun. And right now, I’m playing pretty good. So I have the ability to travel and play and do some things that I want to do for my own career and my own personal goals. So that’s why I’ve travelled and played more than some other guys.”

This is his second trip to China – Watson played the Shenzhen International a week after the Masters this year.

He will play on the Japan Golf Tour next week, and then return to the Thailand Open. A year ago, he donated his prize money to the foundation of Thongchai Jaidee.

Watson said his first taste of international travel came early when he played on a U.S. team that competed in South Africa. He also recalls a trip to Ireland with some friends to play golf.

“I’ve traveled different places, and just watching golf on TV, watching guys from all over the world winning and competing, it drives you to get better in the game,” he said. “To get better, you want to try to get to all areas in the world and play against different talent and different cultures and see different golf courses around the world.”

He will have played in five countries by the end of the year.

Watson could have played six, but he said he was going to skip the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas a week after Thanksgiving because he needs a break.

SHANGHAI – Jordan Spieth’s description of his trophy collection from an amazing season brings to mind a scene in “Caddyshack” when Lacy Underall is at Ty Webb’s house and keeps finding uncashed checks littered about the living room.

There’s a U.S. Open trophy in one corner of his bedroom. A green jacket in the closet. A crystal trophy from the Tour Championship over here. The FedEx Cup trophy over there. Trophies from the Valspar Championship and John Deere Classic. A bronze of Jack Nicklaus for PGA Tour player of the year.

It’s all there for hardly anyone to see.

“I’ve never wanted to just display stuff,” Spieth said Wednesday. “That’s what we try to win, and when we win we get satisfaction. It’s very satisfying, and then we go on to the next goal. We go on to the next trophy. … I feel uncomfortable if it’s all out in the open.”

“When you achieve those goals and you have those trophies in your possession, that’s what is important to me,” he said. “People already know that I won. So what good does it do for me to have my friends over and just flaunt it in their face? Just keep it in my room and go for the next one.”

The next chance starts Thursday at the HSBC Champions, a World Golf Championship that technically starts a new PGA Tour season for the 22-year-old Texan, even though it still feels like he is winding down a year that brought him stardom and fame that he never imagined.

Last week, Dallas-based AT&T honored their prized client by building a mosaic of Spieth using more than 24,000 golf balls on a tee. When he arrived at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, he saw posters in the baggage claim promoting him along with Rory McIlroy and defending HSBC champion Bubba Watson.

Watson was portrayed as the magician. McIlroy was the fire. Spieth was the ice man.

“It’s really cool to see golf have recognition and fans around the world,” Spieth said. “It’s a dream come true for me, it really is. To have young juniors walking in our group today in 12 holes in the pouring rain, it’s just something that I probably didn’t even see in my wildest dreams. So to have it take shape is spectacular, but with it comes responsibility. And we have to continue to have years like we did this last year to keep it that way. If you don’t play well, you’re not going to see yourself in the airport in Shanghai.”

Spieth said he didn’t touch his golf clubs for two weeks after the Presidents Cup, which he said was the longest he had gone without his hand on a club since he was 12. The break was nice coming off a year that featured five wins, two majors and a record $22 million in earnings and the FedEx Cup bonus.

And now it’s back to work.

Half of the American team at the Presidents Cup that was in South Korea three weeks ago chose not to play the HSBC Champions for various reasons, though the field is loaded at the top – Spieth, Watson, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler, along with McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott.

McIlroy has a comfortable lead in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour, and his biggest challenge so far this week was just getting to the golf course. A nasty bout with food poisoning caused him to miss the opening ceremony in The Bund district Tuesday, and he only hit a couple of shots on the range Wednesday before feeling more pain in his stomach and heading back to his hotel.

With rain during the pro-am and in the forecast for much of the week, Sheshan International is lush and long and would seem to favor the big hitters. Watson won last year by holing a bunker shot for eagle on the 72nd hole, and then making a birdie to win in a playoff.

Johnson also feels like a defending champion. He went eagle-birdie late in his round two years ago to beat Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter, and then missed last year during his six-month leave from golf.

Johnson has been crisscrossing the Pacific Ocean the last month – South Korea to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Los Angeles and now Shanghai. Forgive him for being out of touch, but he only realized Wednesday that players in their 20s have won the last seven PGA Tour events, and no one older than 23 has won the three events of the new season.

He is 31.

“I still feel like I’m 21,” Johnson said. “I don’t consider myself being much older than those guys.”

Spieth still feels 22, even if he has reason to feel a year ago felt much longer. At the HSBC Champions last year, he still had only one PGA Tour win and no inkling how much his life was about to change with his pursuit of the Grand Slam and reaching No. 1 in the world.

And in his mind, the year isn’t over.

“This would be icing on the cake if we were able to compete and capture a win here,” he said. “Obviously, that’s our expectation.”

PICKERING, Ont. – The PGA of Ontario is relocating its offices to Angus Glen Golf Club.

“It’s a very exciting move for our association to partner with a world-class organization like Angus Glen Golf Club,” says Kevin Purcell, Executive Director of the PGA of Ontario. “We will have a smaller footprint for our offices than we currently have, but we’ll gain access to all of the excellent facilities at Angus Glen if we want to be able to host meetings or educational seminars on and off the course for our membership.”

Purcell explained that after 13 years, the current lease on the association’s offices in a commercial plaza in Pickering expires at the end of November. Earlier in 2015, he was chatting with Cailey Stollery, President of Angus Glen Golf, about other matters and mentioned that there might be the possibility of a move. Stollery told Purcell she had the perfect spot for the association. A deal was worked out to bring the headquarters to Angus Glen at a significant cost savings to the PGA of Ontario.

Prior to locating in Pickering, the PGA of Ontario had its offices located across from Angus Glen in an old schoolhouse on property owned by the club’s parent company.

“We are thrilled that the PGA of Ontario has chosen Angus Glen as their new home. Angus Glen has been a CPGA facility since opening in 1995 and because of this we have had the opportunity to work with dozens of PGA pros,” says Stollery, who is also a member of the board of the Golf Canada Foundation and the Canadian Olympic Association. “We are strong supporters of the PGA of Ontario and look forward to working more closely with them in the future,”

Opened in 1995, Angus Glen Golf Club is a 36-hole course that has twice hosted the RBC Canadian Open, a Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and thousands of charity events over the past 20 years. The North Course was renovated in 2006 and the renovated South Course re-opened earlier this year in time to host the first-ever Pan-Am Games golf championship as a lead up to the 2016 Olympics where golf will be played in Rio de Janeiro for the first time since 1904.

“This move will give our association many opportunities to increase our exposure within the public golf community and build brand awareness as we continue to grow the game of golf and develop industry leaders,” added Purcell. “I know the staff is very excited about the move to a golf course and all the facilities we will be able to capitalize on.”

The PGA of Ontario currently has four full-time staff members including Purcell. They will be moving on up to 10080 Kennedy Road in Markham the week of November 16^th to set up shop at Angus Glen GC.

If you ask Keith Pelley, the new Chief Executive of the European Tour, what his biggest adjustment has been since taking over the role after five years as the President of Rogers Media, the answer is simple: the driving.

No, not the big swing from the first tee at Wentworth Club – where both his office and his home is located, but the actual driving of his car around the streets of Surrey, England.

“I was taking my boy (Pelley has a 12-year-old son, Jason, and a 8-year-old daughter, Hope) to hockey and the GPS said to take the third exit, but I couldn’t get to the third exit. I’m going around the roundabout three times before I can get off,” Pelley exclaims, his voice rising and then turning into a hearty chuckle.

The 51-year-old has been at the helm of the largest professional golf Tour outside of North America for just over three months now, after taking over for George O’Grady, who was the Chief Executive for 10 years. Pelley recently had lunch with John Jacobs, who started the European Tour in 1972. He says Jacobs, who was a well-celebrated golf instructor and is now 90, was trying to change Pelley’s grip as their meal was finishing.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Pelley says. “It’s always been a lifelong dream to work in the golf business and work with a brand that has such a rich history. It’s an opportunity to combine business and sport, and one of the sports I love.”

Pelley’s stock was at an all-time high after he helped to negotiate the biggest television rights deal in Canadian history – the well-publicized NHL deal worth $5.2 billion – that is in its second of 12 years. According to SCOREGolf, Pelley first interviewed with the board of directors at the European Tour via Skype, and then was flown to England for a weekend of interviews and a presentation.

Pelley became a well-known sports media figure through the late 1990s as the President of TSN. In the early 2000s he was the CEO of the Toronto Argonauts, helping to lead them to victory at the 2004 Grey Cup. After that, he had a successful stint as the President of Canada’s Olympic broadcast media consortium, and then became President of Rogers Media in 2010.

“I loved my role at Rogers and I had an enormous respect for the whole Rogers family (Pelley then goes on to list each of the family members by name). My five years could not have been better,” he explains. “It was very difficult to leave Gary Bettman and the NHL deal – which was obviously very historical and one I was very proud of.”

But like many golfers, he had a desire to work in the game he loves. It was one of those jobs, he says, that comes along once-in-a-career.

“I love golf, and my family was certainly up for an adventure,” Pelley says. “The timing was right with the age of my kids and at the end, it was a very tough decision. I knew it was going to take something special for me to leave, and this was in fact just that.”

Pelley has had an interesting start to his tenure, as the Tour appears to be at a crossroads.

He has already granted Rory McIlroy – arguably the Tour’s biggest star – a special condition to participate in the season-ending Race to Dubai (due to the injury he suffered earlier this summer), and was in the news recently when Rich Beem withdrew from the Hong Kong Open in order for Ian Poulter to take his spot and play the mandatory 13 events needed in order to qualify for the European Ryder Cup team.

“For a professional golfer like Rich Beem to do what he did was terrific. It shows the class and maturity […] and Ian has done everything he possibly can to get there,” explains Pelley.

Through it all, Pelley recognizes the athletes and their characters are what make the Tour so successful.

“You’re dealing with the likes of Rory and Ian and Justin (Rose) and Shane (Lowry) and their personalities is one of our Tour’s main strengths. Over five weeks, we had winners from five different countries,” Pelley says. “Our players are our recipe for success.”

“This is a membership organization. The feedback and the dialogue we’ve had about growing it has been great, and (the players) are going to be a part of it,” he continues.

There are four events left in the European Tour’s schedule, including the WGC-HSBC Champions. Prior to that tournament, Pelley will be in Shanghai on a panel with industry heavy-hitters like PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan, and Rickie Fowler, talking about the global game and a little bit more about 2016.

Pelley admits there will be some changes to the Tour next year, but says he is looking more long term than short term.

“Those plans we have from a long-term perspective will be articulated to the general public and players in due course,” he explains. “We have a strategy we’re working through, and are excited to execute in 2016.”

While adjusting to life across the pond (including the roads), and aggressively developing a go-forward business plan for the Tour, Pelley has also enjoyed working with his new colleagues immensely.

During the Blue Jays magical playoff run, he convinced his staff to become fans of the team. Even with the time difference, he couldn’t let go of the love he has for the blue birds.

“After we clinched, I sent John Gibbons a note and it came back to me about 15 minutes later. I saw it was five in the morning,” he says, laughing. “I thought, ‘What was I doing?’”

With the Jays out of the playoffs, Pelley’s focus remains solely on the task at hand: leading the European Tour through 2016 and beyond.

He’s learning something new every day, he says. Including the best way to get through those pesky roundabouts.