Can too much money hurt a sport?

Nobody ever thought that "too much money" would be a problem in any sport, or for that matter in any walk of life.

But professional golf at the highest level in the United States "" the ultimate destination for any pro "" seems to be on its way to facing just that. Many people out there think that there is simply so much money that the game is actually suffering on account of it.

The PGA Tour of America, which kicked off for the season 2004 last week with the Mercedes Open, and has on its agenda the Sony Open in Hawaii this week, has 48 events scheduled for the year.

The total prize money is more than $240 million, which works out to an average of $5 million per event and the winner gets 18 per cent of that booty.

The total prize money has more than doubled in the last six years and gone up four times in the last decade. Boy, not inflation, nor the cost of the living has gone up that much.

So, the net result is that there is so much money that golfers are actually cutting down on their playing, because they are making more money in fewer events.

So, how does that affect golf? Simple. The fields do not have as many strong names as before; many leading golfers have cut down their schedules from as much as 30 events to around 22-24. And the ones reducing the number of events are the top guys.

Tiger Woods over the last four years has cut down from about 22 starts to just 18 in 2003. That is unlikely to improve this season. A couple of other players who cut down were Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, who also played less than 20 on the PGA Tour.

Sure, these players are now playing a couple of events more as invitees in Europe or Asia, but that does not help the American sponsors.

Meanwhile, the European and the Asian PGA Tours have their own problems, as their top stars graduate to the next level. Many of the leading Asians are now on to Japan, Europe and even the US. The influx to the more lucrative US PGA Tour is ever increasing from Europe.

A top agent, Marvin Giles, who has as clients some of the leading golfers like Davis Love III and Tom Kite threw up some interesting statistics recently.

He mentioned that the average number of starts for players in the top 10 has dropped down to 23.1, which is almost six events less than the average of 29 for the Tour as such, making it clear that it is the top players who are playing less. That makes the field less attractive, and soon sponsors are going to be asking questions.

Less than five years ago, the average number of starts for the top 10 stars in 1999 was 25.3, that is two events more. And the prize purse in 1999 was $135.8 million, just around 55 per cent of what it is today.

Fifteen years ago, Curtis Strange was the first guy to make a million in a season. Last year in 2003, 72 players made more than that. Of the 72, as many as 44 did not even win a event. And down the line, the first player to miss keeping his card, Per Ulrik-Johansson made almost $485,000 finishing 126th on the money list.

Agents and some players feel that to retain competitive edge on the tour, the purses should actually drop by around 30 per cent. That would make the purse around $3.5 million "" with a few events offering more - to make the players fight harder for the money and the fields will consequently be better. That would also satisfy the sponsors.

Just for the record some players like Love turned down offers to play some events and some other opportunities worth around almost $2 million, because he wanted to spend more time with his family. Also he had made enough money.

As the wear and tear increases, Ernie Els is planning to play around 16-18 events in US, a few in Europe and South Africa. Tiger Woods, already down to 18 is unlikely to up that figure, more so with his recent engagement to girlfriend Elin Nordegren.

It "" reducing purses "" is not going to happen in a hurry, but it has to at some time because the demands made on the Tour and the game will force a cut.

With lack of audience interest and consequently television "" as it is golf is appearing more and more on golf channels, rather than national and general networks "" sponsors will demand better fields to rectify that fall or else reduce their sponsorsips.

Right now the market is full of people waiting to get a toehold into pro golf in US, but the time is not far when you will see some coming out of the exit door, too.