Golf Tour news: In a way, this week's fare of the Indonesian Open and the Ford Doral Open reflects just why the lure of America is so strong for Europe's elite at this time of year.
While the co-sanctioned tournament in Jakarta has a purse of €833,000, the opposing event on the PGA Tour in Miami has a prize fund five times greater of €4,639,000 ($5.5 million). So, not surprisingly, it is Stateside rather than the Far East that is the magnet for the leading Irish players.
Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Graeme McDowell are all entered into the Doral Open, where Tiger Woods defends his title a year on from regaining the number one position in the official world rankings from Vijay Singh.
Twelve months on, Woods now commands a near seven-point lead over Singh in those rankings, but Harrington, the leading Irishman, is now down to 21st, with Clarke at 23rd and McGinley 27th.
McGinley has decided to take a two-week break from tournament play, before returning to the US for the Bay Hill Invitational in the run-up to the US Masters at Augusta.
McDowell, meanwhile, is down to 66th and needs to hit some form in the coming weeks if he is to break into the world's top-50 after the Players' championship next month, the cut-off point for securing an invitation to the Masters in April.
Despite the purse on offer in Indonesia, the tournament has still attracted a good cross representation of the European and Asian tours, with leading Asian players Thongchai Jaidee and Charlie Wi joined by the likes of Irish Open champion Stephen Dodd and Dane Anders Hansen.
The Irish challenge in Indonesia will be led by Damien McGrane, currently in the top-50 on the European money list, Peter Lawrie, Michael Hoey and David Higgins.
Although Jaidee failed in his recent attempt to win the Malaysian Open for a third successive year, when he failed by just one stroke to Wi, the Asian number one heads to the Indonesian Open seeking to secure a first invitation to the Masters.
Currently 89th in the world rankings, Jaidee - like McDowell - is looking to break into the world's top-50 before the Masters deadline.
Meanwhile, Denis O'Sullivan, the defending champion, is the lone Irish player in the Barbados Open, starting on Thursday, the first tournament on the European Seniors Tour schedule.
A 15-tournament programme for the seniors was announced yesterday, with the AIB Irish Seniors Open at Fota Island on June 2nd-4th coming the week after the US Seniors PGA at Oak Tree, Oklahoma.
Andy Stubbs, the managing director of the European Seniors Tour, said: "We witnessed some great champions make their mark on the European Seniors Tour in 2005 and I expect a similar story this year and beyond.
"For 2006 we have strengthened our ranks with the addition of a number of former European Tour players, among them 1992 PGA Championship winner Tony Johnstone, and in the next two years we can look forward to the 'Big Five' of European golf - Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam - all turning 50."
EUROPEAN TOUR ORDER OF MERIT
(figures in euro)
1 David Howell (Eng)938,813
2 Henrik Stenson (Swe)618,558
3 Nick O'Hern (Aus)556,037
4 Ernie Els (Rsa)548,817
5 Retief Goosen (Rsa)429,408
6 Paul Casey (Eng)401,729
7 Nick Dougherty (Eng)361,833
8 Vijay Singh (Fij)323,872
9 Colin Montgomerie (Sco)322,321
10 Richard Green (Aus)305,025
11 Paul Broadhurst (Eng)304,796
12 Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)291,110
13 Padraig Harrington (Irl)276,112
14 Miguel Angel Jiménez (Esp)265,806
15 Thomas Björn (Den)232,654
40 D Clarke (3) 103,079
47 D McGrane (8) 88,363
54 P McGinley (3) 77,689
63 P Lawrie (6) 69,440
72 G McDowell (2) 57,297
95 G Murphy (8) 36,774
