The European Tour is being petitioned by some of its biggest names - Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood included - to submit its multi-million-pound finances to outside auditors.

Bernhard Langer and Jose-Maria Olazabal are also among more than 50 players who are believed to have signed a letter to be sent to the tour's executive director, Ken Schofield.

Clarke said yesterday that the names of the other superstars on the letter persuaded him to add his. "But for that I probably would have thought very carefully about not signing. But they have been around for a lot longer than I have, and I thought it the right thing to do," said the Ulsterman.

"I am not aware of anything wrong, but I think the guys just want the books audited to see what the result is. People are not saying that money is going missing or anything like that. At the end of the day I am trying to play golf and leave the running of the tour to people who know what they are doing."

As a member of the tour's tournament committee, Colin Montgomerie did not sign the letter. His manager, Guy Kinnings, was reported as saying: "Colin feels that if he has any issues to raise he does it through the committee."

The Ryder Cup has become such a huge financial success through television contracts, sponsorship and ticket sales that the distribution of cup profits is likely to be one area where the players want questions to be answered.

Another concerns the investment in tour-owned courses, and the audit would presumably also cover the staffing structure at the tour's Wentworth headquarters.

Clarke's manager, Andrew Chandler, commented: "Lee Westwood's dad asks for his (son's) books to be audited each year. It's partly to make sure I am not running off with the money, but I don't take that as a slight - and nor should the tour.

"If this streamlines the tour then it's a good thing. The infrastructure has not moved with the size of business that there is now. I think change is good if it's constructive. If this produces recommendations for the better then it's a good thing.

"This has been going on for the last two or three years. If somebody looks at the books they might come up with recommendations on such things as whether there is overstaffing or too much money is being spent on travel.

"I'm not sure the tour will take it as sensibly as that, though. I think they will take it more personally. But both sides must not take it personally.

"I think Ken has done an unbelievable job, but the infrastructure underneath him is probably not what it would be if he had his time again."

Schofield addressed the issue in a members' bulletin five years ago. "I am very conscious that more and more of you, the players, are taking a deeper interest in the operations of the tour and in particular the financial workings," he wrote.

The bulletin covered 1988 to 1994 and detailed the spending of more than £15 million on such things as practice facilities, player lounges, transportation, agronomy, fitness facilities and club repair workshops.

"Our intention, as always, remains to build on all of these programmes - and the purpose of this bulletin is to show the importance of these investments to you, the member.

"We trust you will fully understand our motives and objectives and that you will contribute to the debate at future meetings."

Tour prize money has grown from a mere £611,000 in 1975 to around £40 million this season - and another £10 million is on offer on the Seniors and Challenge Tours.

Olazabal stated: "I think it's a very simple issue. We just want to know where the money is going. We don't have any information. The feeling was there and we just talked to each other - it was not a certain player who started the issue.

"We are all human beings and this is a big company now. We are not trying to find anything special and we're not trying to see if there is any misconduct at all. It has just not been detailed."

Asked why the matter had come back now, Olazabal said that a few years ago there were other issues such as courtesy cars, condition of course, practice balls.

"I think this is the right time to ask for this now, that's all," he added.