The sign outside the Slaley Hall clubhouse harked back to more successful times; days when European golf's big names were lured to the Northumberland course.

"Seve, Retief, Bernhard, Colin, Lee, Darren and Justin have all played it," the placard proclaimed.

"Have you played it? Fred and George played it last week!"

Never mind Fred and George - Slaley Hall bosses were begging every Tom, Dick and Harry to turn up for the Great North Open last week as a welter of withdrawals and snubs removed much of the event's lustre.

The field for a tournament that boasts Colin Montgomerie, Retief Goosen and Lee Westwood as former winners came close to bringing the European Tour into disrepute.

The loss of a sponsor, and the subsequent 25 per cent cut in prize money, precluded some would-be competitors from spending four days in the North-East.

For the tournament to retain its European Tour status, organisers Nova International must move heaven and earth to restore prestige to the event.

Which is exactly what they are pledging to do.

Jibes at the lack of quality at the Great North Open last week have cut deep, and Nova have resolved to prove their doubters wrong.

Marketing director David Hart said: "We started the Great North Run 20 years ago and we've made that the best half-marathon in the world.

"And if anyone wants to see the Great North Open fail, they'll be the ones who will be disappointed. We'll come back bigger and better."

Noble sentiments, indeed, and such determination will be required to arrest the slide of the past 12 months.

Moving the date of next year's tournament would be a start, and Tour bosses are keen to facilitate the request to do so.

Hart insists such a decision would be rewarded with the return of top-class golf to the region.

"We remain very ambitious. We realised a few months ago that this would be a year of consolidation but now we want to take it to the next level," he added.

"The European Tour have been really impressed by the course, the organisation and the infrastructure.

"The event will go on and it will get bigger. We want to be holding big worldwide events.

"Some people have said the world 'Great' in the name of the tournament is inappropriate for the standard of the event. We think that's unacceptable.

"We're not going backwards, and there will be very high quality golf here for many years to come.

"We might surprise people with the standard of the events in the future."