USPGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was decidedly unconvincing yesterday when attempting to explain the absence of a number of his leading players from the $5 million American Express Championship, starting at Valderrama on Thursday. Indications are that as many as 12 Americans will not be playing, including their Tour Championship winner Phil Mickelson.
"I don't want to give the impression of glossing over what appears to be a disappointment for the European Tour, but in the five World Championships events so far, as many as 93 or 94 per cent of eligible players have competed," he said. "I prefer to look at the glass as being half full rather than half empty."
Finchem went on: "I cannot reduce the opportunities for my players on the US Tour, simply because some of them decide they don't want to travel. The World Championship events have already had a beneficial effect in that Honolulu (Sony Open) next season has gone up to $4 million (from $2.9 million), Pebble Beach has increased to $4.5 million (from $4.0 million) and Las Vegas will also be bigger."
That may be true in the US, but not in Europe. In the event, he further suggested that the purses for WGC tournaments wouldn't be staying at $5 million and that the popularity of the American Express Championship would be enhanced by a switch to a September date next year. Indeed it is to be played at Mount Juliet in September 2002.
All of which is poor consolation, however, to this week's organisers who are looking at the withdrawal of Mickelson, David Duval, Hal Sutton, Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Notah Begay, Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Paul Azinger, Loren Roberts and John Huston. Word is that Lehman has a knee injury and that Sutton has a damaged left ankle. But Huston and Cink have made no secret of their dislike of Valderrama.
Prior to the final round of the USPGA Tour Championship at East Lake last Sunday, Mickelson made it clear that were he to win the title, there would be no point in his going to Valderrama. This was based on the fact that the $1 million first prize on offer this week would make no difference to his placing in the US money list: he couldn't catch Tiger Woods at number one and he himself couldn't be caught by Ernie Els at number three.
That is precisely the position, now that Mickelson has been crowned tour champion after a final round of 66 which gave him a 13-under-par aggregate of 267, beating the record of 268, set by Tom Watson in 1987. Even with a final round of 69, his 11th successive competitive round in the sixties, Woods had to be content with second place, two strokes adrift.
Mickelson collected $900,000 to bring his earnings from 23 US tournaments this season to $4,746,457 while second-place prize money of $540,000 lifted Woods to $9,030,821 from 19 tournaments. But, as if he needed it, Woods received a consolation bonus of $200,000 as winner of the so-called Fall Finish title, for performances in autumn tournaments.
Sunday's effort at East Lake was an interesting performance by the left-hander in that he had earlier stopped a six-tournament streak by Woods, when capturing the Buick Invitational in San Diego. Now, he has become the first player since 1996 to come from behind and beat Woods when he was either leading or in a share of the lead going into the final round.
Indicative of Mickelson's confidence was his post-tournament comment about his formidable rival: "I didn't really expect him to win. I thought I had a pretty good chance. And I really liked the position I was in, being one group in front and having him watch me make birdies."
Ed Fiori, the so-called Tiger Slayer, came from behind to beat Woods in the Quad Cities Classic of 1996. Since then, the world number one had gone on to win 19 tournaments from a position of at least sharing the lead after 54 holes, until last weekend.
In the event, from the top-10 players in the US money list after their Tour Championship, it seems that only Woods, Els, Jesper Parnevik, Davis Love and Vijay Singh will be at Valderrama. By way of compensation for any projected loss this week, Duval picked up $180,000 for sixth place on Sunday.
It would be rather churlish to suggest that Woods's presence can be attributed largely to the fact that he is contracted to the sponsors, American Express. The fact is that the world number one is far more supportive of leading events than many of his colleagues and certainly has no problem with travelling overseas.
The assumption was that the introduction of WGC events, with their $5 million prize funds, would effectively slap down the rebels such as Greg Norman who were advocating a world tour. Here was the ideal compromise, involving the co-operation of all of the world's leading tours.
The notion of promoting tournaments strictly on prize money, however, has proved to be seriously ill-conceived. Today's professional game is awash with money, on and off the course. Even at European Tour level, the leading players can expect to earn upwards of £75,000 for a company day.
Indeed it was revealing that when Colin Montgomerie ended his final round in the Volvo Masters at Montecastillo on Sunday, he talked of heading off immediately for London, where he had business deals to negotiate yesterday. As the Scot admitted with regard to tournament prize funds, the money doesn't matter.
But what about titles? At this stage of their development, WGC titles don't count for very much. Darren Clarke beat the strongest possible field to win the Andersen Consulting World Matchplay title at La Costa last February, yet the title proved to be of surprisingly little significance from a commercial standpoint. Which is hardly surprising. It couldn't help but be devalued by the continued existence of the Wentworth version of the world matchplay, under the Cisco Systems banner.
When Christy O'Connor Snr was in his prime, titles were the dominant element in the game. No one asked about the prize fund for a British Open: it was enough that the title would make the winner a millionaire and guarantee him immortality. Nowadays, even with their private aircraft, there are Americans who think twice before committing themselves to the Open.
It is fascinating to consider that, making full allowance for inflation, Clarke's reward of £222,220 sterling for runner-up place in the Volvo Masters last Sunday was greater than the then world-record £25,000 which O'Connor received for winning the John Player Classic at Hollinwell in 1970.
The hard, unpalatable fact is that if you treat players like spoiled children - in this case by throwing sack-fulls of money at them - you can't be surprised if they behave like spoiled children.
Meanwhile, even with Clarke favourite for the title, Pierre Fulke's superb win on Sunday should have been anticipated by observers of the Irish scene this year. After all, Sophie Gustafson captured the Irish Women's Open, Patrik Sjoland won the Murphy's Irish Open and Gustafson partnered Carin Koch to victory in the inaugural Women's World Cup at Adare Manor in September.
