GOLF: When Lee and Rory decided to stay away from The Players, the Americans were a wee bit miffed, writes COLIN BYRNE

THE PLAYERS Championship at the TPC course at Sawgrass is the main spectacle of the year for the PGA Tour in America. It is the biggest prize in golf and it has the best players in the world competing. Well most of the best players that is, excluding Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy. Lee and Rory decided, in their wisdom, not to compete last week. It appears the tournament date did not fit their annual schedule. It is an indication of the health of the upper echelons in the professional game of golf when you can afford not to have a shot at a $9.5 million (€6.7m) pot.

There are a couple of conversations that will get an instant reaction on the fairways of the PGA Tour these days. Firstly, the relevance of the world rankings, and secondly, why would two of Europe’s finest golfers not want to play such a big event. America, from many American’s point of view is, “the World”. This is a sentiment held by those who have not really been exposed to the rest of the real world beyond their perimeters. It is also a view held by quite a number of players on the US Tour who despite even a limited amount of overseas ventures believe their tour is a more relevant barometer of a player’s status.

It may sound narrow minded but they do have a point if you consider the golf courses, their weekend set-up and the depth of talent that prevails on a weekly basis in the US. It is difficult to win on any tour, given the variables involved in achieving ultimate success. In the States it is even more arduous due to the quality of players in depth.

My own player, Edoardo Molinari, who enjoyed a very successful season in Europe last year, has availed of his world ranking status to play in a number of events on the US Tour this year.

This, coupled with a few invitations to play in the tournaments he was not exempt for, has enabled him to enjoy his first real experience of constant top-quality golf on the PGA Tour.

Having enjoyed the excellent conditions of the Middle-Eastern leg of the European Tour earlier in the year with its good and well-conditioned courses and near-perfect practice facilities we headed to the US where the facilities are even better on a weekly basis.

This is another variable that helps players on the US Tour to improve, they are always presented with excellent practice facilities and in particular pristine short-game areas where players distinguish themselves as top golfers.

Many of the perks in the States may be the veneer on what is fundamentally a very good life on tour, but they do try to make the competitors feel special at most events and spoilt rotten at others.

The players will be picked up from whatever airport they land at (quite often this will be in a private jet at a regional airport). From there they will be driven to their hotel where their personal car for the week awaits (without chauffeur).

There is a club transfer service which will usually beat the players to the next venue with their clubs and any other excess baggage they may wish to offload. Naturally their bagmen are on site or at the end of a phone ready to spring into action whenever the boss requires. The players’ physiotherapists, mind-men and coaches of course are all on standby awaiting their masters’ calls.

The recent pampering service that I became aware of in the States is a laundry service which operates from the locker-room where the players already get the royal treatment from the attendants. The manufacturers representatives have access to the clubhouse in order to fill the players lockers with their weekly supply of balls, hats, gloves and any other accoutrements that will ease their passage of performance.

We joked with our playing partner, the anti-heroic Paul Goydos, when he complained (tongue in cheek) that his hotel room door didn’t automatically close behind him as he left his room. He was mildly put out by this and suggested that there might be a member of staff outside his door ready to assist him with closing his door!

Quite literally the players really do only have to think of playing golf and shaving half a shot off their round each day. The minutiae are left to the personal and general support team at their disposal each week on tour.

It is impossible to play each week of the year but there is increasing competition from individual tournaments to lure players to their event with little extra incentives apart from the ample purses for playing well.

With the prize funds, quality of courses, standard of competition and ease of transport it is really no wonder the American’s believe the US Tour is the only gauge of a player’s worth. When Westwood wins a relatively obscure event in Asia and returned once again to world number one the Americans were slightly miffed.

The reality is that the US Tour is the best tour with the sternest competition on a weekly basis anywhere in the world. In that sense its players are victims of their tour’s success. Why would they bother leaving North America in search of world ranking points.

The fact is the world rankings are the only way of comparing like with like on a global scale. Americans are free to roam just as the players from the rest of the world do. This is unlikely to happen as long as the US Tour is as prosperous as it is today. The flagship events such as the TPC are major spectacles with all the pomp and ceremony that would put most other events to shame.

No wonder they consider their tour as a superior one and the true test of a golfer’s worth. Goydos, with his third-place finish, will even be able to afford a doorman for any other non-closing doors he leaves behind him this year on the Pamper Tour of America.