The pre-Christmas timing of the new-look World Cup may be reasonably good, but the injection of money - with the tournament now offering $3 million - can hardly be said to have had the desired effect. If you take Tiger Woods, the world's number one ranked player, and David Duval, ranked fourth, out of the equation, then the field for the EMC World Cup which starts in Buenos Aires on Thursday is a rather modest one.
Indeed, the Irish pairing of Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, who arrived yesterday, won't be intimidated by the opposition. Going purely on combined world rankings, Harrington and McGinley are actually ranked fourth of the 24 competing countries with only the United States, Spain and Argentina ranked above them.
And, although the competition rules have been changed this year from a simple process of combining the two individual strokeplay scores to a system that combines two days of foursomes and two days of fourball, Ireland's pair head into their fourth consecutive appearance in the event with an enviable record: winners at Kiawah Island in 1997, sixth in Auckland in 1998 and third in Malaysia last year. So, no one can question Ireland's commitment - or, more specifically, that of Harrington and McGinley - to the event.
Other countries haven't been quite so supportive, however. And the absence of many high-profile players on this occasion confirms such an observation.
As if to underline that money is not everything in professional golf, mainly because there is so much of it around that players can pick and choose when and where to play, there is a lightweight appearance to some countries who would normally consider themselves among the heavyweights of the sport. For instance, England have two players - Jamie Spence and Brian Davis - who are not even ranked in the world's top-100 representing them, while Australia, a country with three players in the world's top-50, are reduced to sending a team that consists of Peter O'Malley, world ranked 104th, and Lucas Parsons, ranked 186th.
All of which should perk up Messrs Harrington and McGinley in their quest to take the title for a second time in four years, but it still raises serious questions about just where the World Cup is headed if some of the world's top players are simply deciding not to play.
Of course, the main saving grace for the tournament is the presence of Woods in the field and, in truth, he has been a fervent supporter of the World Golf Federation championships since their inception. Last year, he teamed-up with Mark O'Meara to win the World Cup in Malaysia and, this year, he has picked the brain of his friend to prepare him for a visit to Buenos Aires where O'Meara won the Argentina Open in 1994. "Hopefully I can get a little inside scoop from Mark," said Woods, who is competing in South America for the first time.
The format for this year's event consists of two rounds of fourball (first and third rounds) and two rounds of foursomes.
Meanwhile, Darren Clarke will continue his short South African schedule when he competes in the Vodacom Players' Championship in Cape Town starting on Thursday. It will be Clarke's last competitive outing before he defends his world matchplay championship in Australia next month.
