Players want more than slice of American pie
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Debate any number of candidates for golf story of the year, but when it comes to non-story of the year, it's a landslide. It's this ongoing saga of American PGA Tour members joining the European Tour.
A handful have indicated they'll take up dual citizenship, so to speak, but they're doing so not at the expense of the US circuit, but at the benefit of their wallets. The lure, of course, is the Race for Dubai, which is Europe's answer to the American PGA Tour's
There is a catch, however. To qualify, you must be a European PGA Tour member, and that requires a minimum of 12 tournaments. It's not an overly demanding prerequisite, however, because the four major championships and the three World Golf Championships count in both Europe and the US tours. That's why players from all corners of the world have talked in positive terms about getting on board. Good for the European PGA Tour and good for world-class players who should take their talents to greater horizons.
But there are laughable slices to the story, such as the one circulating out of Spain in which Sergio Garcia boasted that he had "recruited" Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim. Garcia supposedly explained the benefits of the European Tour to his colleagues from Colombia and the US, and pretty much sold them on it.
Garcia an ambassador for the European Tour? What next, NFL linemen pushing yogurt and salads?
With Garcia, we're talking about a guy who played as many times in Florida (four) as he did in Europe in 2008, a guy whose pure American PGA Tour events numbered 12 in 2008, twice as many as his pure European PGA Tour stops. Heck, he maintained European Tour membership thanks only to four major championships (three in the US), three World Golf Championships (all in the US), and three money grabs in Asia (China, Qatar, Dubai).
We presume what Garcia loves about European Tour membership and what he preached to Villegas and Kim can be summed up in two words: "Appearance fees."
That's the deciding factor that will get Villegas and Kim to play more European events, for sure, and it will attract guys such as Aussie Robert Allenby, who has cashed in beyond his wildest dreams in the US, even if he hasn't won in seven years. But after weeks of speculation that he'd fall in line, too, it wasn't enough for Phil Mickelson. The lefthander is in China for this week's
It would be easy to find two more to make membership work, yet he said the other day it's not in his plans.
"I'm not ready to commit to it," said Mickelson from China.
It doesn't appear that Tiger Woods will sign on either, and it remains to be seen just how many other world-class players will fill out their 2009 schedules with as many as four or five European Tour tournaments to fulfill the minimum requirement.
Frankly, having membership on both tours is easily done and it makes sense for young, world-class players. It just doesn't make it the burning story that some think it is.
Back to school
Class assignments have been issued for those who are headed to the second stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. Michael Welch of North Quincy will tee it up Wednesday at Southern Hills in Brooksville, Fla., part of a field that will also include Jeff Martin, the assistant pro at Point Judith Country Club in Rhode Island. Geoff Sisk of Marshfield and Rhode Islander Rod Butcher will play at the Hombre Golf Club in Panama City, Fla. At Callaway Gardens in Georgia, a large contingent of local players will be led by Billy Andrade, back at Q School for the first time since 1988. Olin Browne, who just three years ago won theIt's in the cards
The richest Nationwide Tour Championship doesn't get underway until today in McKinney, Texas, but already some familiar names have chalked up victories, Casey Wittenberg, Colt Knost, Greg Owen, Arjun Atwal, Greg Chalmers, and D.A. Points among them. They're comfortably within the top 25 on the money list, which assures them PGA Tour cards in 2009. The only local to make it into the proceedings was Quinn, though at No. 56 on the money list he'll need some dramatics to crack the Top 25. Sisk earned $81,775 to finish 86th on the money list . . . No argument, the Aussies have cashed in big time on the American pro golf landscape. But it's not like they all come over here and get rich. For proof, there's Steven Bowditch. He played in 16 Nationwide Tour stops and earned just $3,859 in 2008; since 2006 his 68 tournaments on the Nationwide and PGA tours have earned him a grand total of $71,192 . . . Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth will serve as captain of Team USA in the third annual Handa Cup, which will be contested Dec. 4-6 at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla. The international competition pits senior women from the US against an international team, and committed players include Pat Bradley, Patty Sheehan, Beth Daniel, Amy Alcott, and Jan Stephenson.Masters plan
Masters officials announced that alterations to tee boxes at the first, seventh, and 15th holes at Augusta National will provide flexibility to shorten those holes should weather force the issue. The first hole in recent years has been set at 455 yards, but it will be 445 for the 2009 Masters. Greens have also been rebuilt for agronomic reasons at the first, fifth, and sixth holes . . . Jamie Sadlowski won the ReMax World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite, Nev., with a blast of 418 yards. Before you go thinking that Sadlowski must be a mountain of a man, take note that he weighs just 165 pounds. Of course, if he jams his prize in his pockets he'll weigh a lot more - it was $250,000 . . . Annika Sorenstam, winless since May on the LPGA Tour, can take solace in a playoff victory in the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open in China. It goes into the books as her 89th career title, thanks to a 65 that erased a five-shot deficit in the final round. Equally as quiet was Retief Goosen's first win in some 18 months. The South African chased down Niclas Fasth and won the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia.
