• Out of Bounds

Tiger being paid to put European Tour on top

Tiger Woods is making his first start of the year this week - at a European Tour event he's never played before.

The American is looking to build his game up ahead of a challenge at The Masters in April, and believes turning out at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship with the majority of the world's top ten is better preparation than teeing it up at Torrey Pines - where he won his last major, the 2008 US Open - for the Farmers Insurance Open.

Oh, did we mention he is also getting paid about £1.5 million just to show up in the United Arab Emirates? Not that such a sweetener influenced his thinking, though. Did it?

"I'd have to say yes, it certainly does," Woods said on Tuesday. "That's one of the reasons why a lot of the guys who play in Europe, they do play in Europe, and they do get paid. I think the only tour that doesn't pay is the US Tour."

That's true. The PGA Tour consistently refuses to pay players to attend their events, thinking - perhaps rightfully - that they will always play in the most lucrative or prestigious 15-20 they are eligible for in order to continue earning their right to earn such healthy sums the next year. Players are not paid to turn up, but then the rewards for winning are often much higher than the European Tour equivalents (this week, the purse at Torrey Pines is twice as big).

Does that really mean anything for the biggest players, however? What is preferrable, a guaranteed seven figure payment with the option to earn a similar figure with victory - or a bigger reward for success, but the possibility of missing the cut and walking away on Friday paying the taxi driver who took you to the airport out of your own money?

ESPN GolfRank

Martin Kaymer is underrated © Getty Images

• Since the start of the month, ESPN.com has been counting down the 100 best golfers in the world, as voted for by a series of experts (including some from ESPN.co.uk ... Out of Bounds somehow made the cut).
• The list has now reached into the top ten, with the No. 1 set to be revealed on Friday. Anybody other than Luke Donald in that spot would probably only underline some of the curious results that have come out (Darren Clarke in the top 50?!) but it is nevertheless an interesting list to digest as the new season begins.
• What remains clear is that some players, who predominantly reside on the European Tour, are horribly underrated when it comes to American audiences - surely Martin Kaymer (11) should be higher than Steve Stricker (8)?! As the European Tour increasingly overtakes the PGA Tour as the premier golfing circuit, maybe this year sees that start to change...

It's easy to see why Woods in particular, but also Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood are so happy to make the trek to Abu Dhabi to kick off their season very early. The chance to visit a new region may be one attraction, but players are fooling no-one in suggesting it was their main priority.

It comes down to money, but it brings other benefits with it. Many of those are commercial but for the players, in a field with so many elite names, it brings increased world ranking points on offer - which brings a great chance to rise up the world rankings and get into majors and World Golf Championship tournaments.

Where the big names go, the second and third tiers will soon follow. Feeding on the situations they create is the best chance they have of forcing themselves in that same echelon.

With travel easier than ever and television a key part of the modern game, that becomes a problem for whichever tour - or even individual events - can't attract the top fields. The PGA Tour's advantage in its home market used to preclude it from competition, but with so many European Tour events taking place in conducive timezones these days, that is less of a defence.

The PGA Tour could find itself losing the biggest names to the European Tour, all because of the traditionalists who don't want to allow appearance fees creating a distinction between 'box office' players and the general touring pro.

"I don't think it'll ever happen,'' Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent, told ESPN.com this week. "I think [PGA Tour commissioner] Tim [Finchem] and the board are dead set against that. I don't think they want to create a situation of haves and have-nots.

"Do I think it could work? I do. It could possibly attract additional international talent. But it's the PGA Tour and the deepest fields in the world, and I think Tim would stick to 'if it's not broke, don't fix it.' But it works here. Nobody shies away from it.''

The PGA Tour may be right to. But, in the long term, it could cost the tour its increasingly unstable position as the biggest and best golf circuit in the world.

Appearance fees are an unsavoury price to pay now, but - with the rival organisation happy to allow it - there could be an even bigger price to pay later.

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