Pay-to-play deals in Europe leave PGA Tour looking on enviously

By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Published on Thursday 26 January 2012 02:42

WITH the ink barely dry on his new four-year contract extension, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is coming under increasing pressure to bring his multi-million-dollar circuit into line with the European Tour by coughing up appearance money for players.

The calls have just become a lot louder as a result of the comparisons being drawn between the fields for this week’s European Tour event, the HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, and the PGA Tour one, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

Based purely on prize money, the event in California is more lucrative, boasting a total pot of £3.85 million and a first prize of £694,000 compared to the £1.73m and £289,000 on offer in the United Arab Emirates. Yet the quality of the line-ups would suggest it was the other way round.

The top four in the world rankings – Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer – are all in Abu Dhabi, as are sixth-ranked Charl Schwartzel, world No 10 Jason Day and, of course, Tiger Woods. By contrast, the PGA Tour event boasts just one player from the top ten – Dustin Johnson – and only six in the top 25.

The fact eight players from that leading group of 25 are not playing in either event this week is a clear indication that golf is still awash with money despite claims of troubled times, but that’s digressing from the real issue here.

The Americans are moaning because they don’t like the fact that Woods has been “bought” to play in Abu Dhabi and, moreover, is missing an event that was once his traditional curtain-raiser to a new season. He has won seven times at Torrey Pines as a professional, including his 14th and last major at the 2008 US Open. Woods is reportedly receiving a $1.5m fee – less than he used to command for an overseas appearance before his scandal – to start his 2012 campaign on the European Tour, insisting his decision to make a 16-hour journey had also been influenced by the fact HSBC have contributed to his foundation in recent years.

That may be the case, but there is no doubting the fact that the man who goes on about “Ws” all the time is being driven just as much this week by “$s”.

“I’d have to say ‘yes, it certainly does’,” admitted Woods on Tuesday when asked whether payment influenced his scheduling. “That’s one of the reasons why a lot of the guys who play in Europe do play in Europe, and they do get paid [appearance fees].”

Phil Mickelson, Johnson and Bubba Watson are other Americans who’ve filled their wallets by making forays across the Atlantic in recent years and they surely can’t be blamed if someone is waiting to write them a big fat cheque as soon as they step off their private jets.

It was refreshing, though, to hear Peter Uihlein, the former US amateur champion who has joined the likes of Westwood and Open champion Darren Clarke in Andrew “Chubby” Chandler’s ISM stable, saying he was coming over to compete on the European circuits this season because he believed it could help him become a “better all-round player”.

The main reason the Americans are moaning and groaning, of course, is because they’ve lost Tiger this week. For all that he’s slipped down the world rankings and not won a regular Tour event for more than two years, he’s still the big draw.

The likes of Rickie Fowler and Anthony Kim haven’t made the impact many expected, while Mickelson continues to be his enigmatic self, leaving Finchem desperately needing Woods to maintain his improved form at the end of last year and start winning again on a regular basis when he returns to his home circuit.

It’s been painful for the Americans to see Europe take over as the dominant power in world golf. They still see the PGA Tour as the top circuit in the game, but are calling on Finchem to “keep up with the times” by changing a policy that has been set in stone since its inauguration in 1968. “We think our image is the most important thing we have, and we’re not going to take the risk,” Finchem once said on the matter.

Mark Steinberg, the man who manages Woods, says he can’t see the PGA Tour budging. “I think Tim and the board are dead set against that [paying appearance money],” he said. “I don’t think they want to create a situation of haves and have-nots.

“Do I think it could work? I do. It could possibly attract additional international talent. But it’s the PGA Tour and the deepest fields in the world, and I think Tim would stick to ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it’. But it works here. Nobody shies away from it.”

Indeed, Woods isn’t the only player receiving a fee in Abu Dhabi. Chandler estimated that as many as 20 players picked up guaranteed money before lifting a club in the desert.

Helped by that, the bragging rights this week definitely belong to George O’Grady at the European Tour. But, as the season progresses, they will switch back and forth.

Indeed, Finchem will end up with the strongest fields over the course of the year, especially with both Westwood and McIlroy having decided to become PGA Tour members again.

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