Lacklustre greens

The US PGA is battling with top stars because they aren't turning up at enough tournaments

The US PGA has announced yet another packed calendar for 2005 with an incredible 50 events in total and prize money exceeding $230 million for the period. While the Tour is attracting big money, it has led many to believe that it may well have reached saturation point. Worse, too much money may be the reason for most players to stay away from 40 per cent of the events held.

The US Tour heavily relies on pulling in big names from outside the country. Apart from American players such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the sponsors look forward to seeing a pool of other stars in the field like World No. 1 Vijay Singh and South Africans Ernie Els (World No. 2) and Retief Goosen (World No. 5).

But as the US Tour expands each year with many weeks having more than one event, top stars are cutting back on their commitments and looking at other Tours in Europe, Asia and Australia. For instance, Els and Goosen spend a lot of time in Europe. Goosen was No. 1 in 2001 and in 2002. Els held the No. 1 spot in 2003. They also play in South Africa and attend European PGA events held in places like Dubai.

Australians Adam Scott (World No. 11) and Stuart Appleby (World No. 18) are also likely go over to Australia or Europe for a few weeks. World No. 10 and Spaniard, Sergio Garcia, similarly divides his time between the US and Europe.

This year, Goosen will have played in about 14 events in the US while Els and Scott will have equalled at 15, followed by Garcia who participated in 17 matches. All of them will probably make one more appearance at the season-ending Tour Championships.

Vijay Singh, however, is an exception. He plays more games than others and most of his appearances are in the US. This year, he will have played almost 30 weeks in the US.

While the US is still the ultimate destination for most golfers, many millionaire superstars prefer to restrict their schedule in the US to anything between 15 and 18 weeks and add about eight to 10 matches outside the US. Usually top stars play between 25 and 30 weeks though Woods plays in about 22 events, including 18 in the US.

This has begun to annoy the US Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, who recently dashed off a letter to Els and Goosen, two of the most sought-after players in the world, asking them to play a minimum of 20 events a year in the US.

Normally, European-born players are allowed to limit their appearances to 15 a year. According to PGA Tour rules, a full member playing 15 PGA Tour events gets three releases for tournaments. A golfer must play an additional five PGA Tour events for each subsequent release. Els will end up playing 16 PGA Tour events this year but the Tour has permitted him to play in nine overseas tournaments against the PGA Tour events.

Obviously, Els and Goosen are peeved at Finchem's demands and they might even cut their future appearances in the US. With their exempt status in the Majors and World rankings, they will get enough starts in the US as they can take a maximum of seven under the sponsor's exemption category and play at the Majors and WGC events on the strength of their world rankings.

One of the biggest crises facing the US Tour today is that the sponsors are unhappy with the "colourless" fields with little known names, even though they are from the US.

This hits the Tour more in the latter half of the season. Since the PGA Championships in August, the nine US Tour events has seen winners like Vaughn Taylor, Woody Austin, Bart Bryant, Andre Stoltz and Brent Geiberger. Of those nine events, Vijay Singh has won three and Fred Funk one.

The European Tour attracts far too many more stars. Apart from the likes of Els, Goosen and Scott, they get Ryder Cup stars such as Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Sergio Garcia (Spain), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) and Luke Donald (UK). Europe has also beaten the US in the last few Ryder Cup matches and making the higher world rankings look meaningless.

Finchem's demands on Els and Goosen are outrageous because Woods plays less than 20 while Mickelson played in 20 this year.

What is hitting the US Tour hard in particular is that players like Els attend events like the Desert Classic in Dubai which offer big appearance fees. And as they are held in the same week as the US Tour championships like the Ford at Doral, the sponsors feel neglected. This year, the nine events that Els appeared outside the US coincided with the Tour events.

Els has made it clear that he's not going to take it lying down and has told the Americans that they must realise that golf needs to grow in places other than the US. The Europeans, for instance, have taken their Tours to Asia, Australia and Africa. How long these players will stick around the US Tour before moving elsewhere is anybody's guess and this is what is bothering Finchem.