IT IS PERHAPS professional golf's greatest myth that the various tours represent completely level playing fields, each member starting out with exactly the same chance of success at the start of each season. In reality, neither is the case. Far from it.
The European Tour, for example, is actually many circuits in one, with each player's opportunities, schedule and financial status dictated by a variety of factors ranging from their category of membership, the level of influence enjoyed by their ma
nagement companies and the fact that where one plays has become far more important than how often. "The system of exemptions and invitations is nothing more than a smoke screen and as difficult to understand as a Rubik's cube," sighs one leading agent.
For the headline-making leading lights, unrestricted entry into any and all events is routine; they simply enter and show up. But for those who are less high-profile, planning a schedule is at best difficult, at worst impossible. So bad is the situation that it isn't just those who graduate from the qualifying school or the second-tier Challenge Tour who have no chance of entry into every event; this year even so-called "exempt" players have been similarly misled as to their status. More than once this season, Frenchman Francois Delamontagne, who gained the 118th and last "exempt" spot from the 2008 circuit, has been forced out by his suddenly "not-really-exempt" status.
Scotland's David Drysdale is another who has suffered similarly – and continues to do so entering a period of the season when he may be denied fair opportunity to qualify for the highly lucrative season-ending Dubai World Championship. After struggling to keep his card more than once over the last few years, the 34-year-old from Berwickshire has performed incredibly well in 2009. Since graduating from the tour school at the end of 2008, he has totted up five top-tens and currently lies 48th in the Race to Dubai (what was the Order of Merit). With only eight events left before the season-ending climax in the Middle East (for which the top-60 money-winners qualify), his prospects, you would think, are looking good. Drysdale, you might imagine, can begin making plans to spend a lucrative week in the desert.
Think and imagine again.
As things stand, Drysdale is likely to play in only a couple of the eight tournaments scheduled between now and Dubai. Unless his manager conjures up an invitation or two, he is going to spend the vast majority of the next two months watching and waiting to see if his ranking holds up.
There are no guarantees, of course. Just last month, immediately before the game's elite made their way to Firestone and Hazeltine for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the USPGA Championship, Drysdale lay 43rd on the money list. Two weeks of enforced inactivity later, he had dropped to 56th.
"I had Luke Donald and Justin Rose – guys who have played rotten all year – pitching up, playing so-so and winning guaranteed cash," he says. "Last spot in the Bridgestone got more than ||EURO||25,000 and there wasn't a cut. Compare that with the recent Mercedes-Benz Championship in Germany – the first event I have ever played in with no cut – and the last place cheque was ||EURO||2,450.
"I know anyone in the top group has to play exceptionally well to get where they are. But once they get there, it does seem to be very difficult to get out again! Look at someone like Ian Poulter. He's done incredibly well having started out in Europe. But he is basically a PGA Tour player now. I disagree with all the money over there counting over here. I don't mind the majors, but the World events are a different matter."
Drysdale at least has the consolation of knowing his tour card for next year is safe. With the top-115 eligible players "all-exempt" for the 2010 season, he has long since earned more than what is likely to be the cut-off mark. The same cannot be said of four other Scots though. For the likes of Andrew Coltart, Callum Macaulay, Richie Ramsay and Steven O'Hara the next few weeks are likely to be even more stressful. Faced with the same – or worse – ranking problem that may see Drysdale benched, they are, in effect, fighting to save their jobs.
"When you have a mortgage and kids to think about, this is never a good situation to be in," admits Coltart, who currently lies 133rd on the money list. "For my own part, it is disappointing. But it's a fine line between success and failure out here. In each of my last two events, for example, I've missed the cut by one shot. It's no fun at this end. Staying positive can be difficult. I don't want to be scraping about trying to make cuts. I want to be winning tournaments. I want that buzz and excitement. I want to feel the pressure I'm feeling now, but two days later with the event on the line."
And that, these days, is the secret. Modern-day professional golfers are, in cricketing parlance, rewarded more for smashing sixes over the fence rather than clipping quick singles to mid-off.
"It's all about having one or two good weeks and winning maybe £400,000," shrugs Coltart. "If you do that, you can happily play crap the rest of the year. Consistency doesn't get rewarded out here. The money is very top-heavy. Look at Oskar Henningsson, who won the tour school last year. Once he got on tour, he hardly made a cut. Then, out of the blue in Silesia, he wins. The prize-fund was ||EURO||2 million and suddenly he is in the top-60 money winners."
By way of further comparison, Coltart has so far played in 23 European Tour events this season; Rose has appeared in ten. Coltart has won ||EURO||185,261 from purses totalling just over ||EURO||37m; Rose has amassed ||EURO||480,263 from purses in excess of ||EURO||50m. Coltart's stroke average is 71.6; Rose's is 70.97. In other words, shooting just over half a shot lower per pound, Rose has won more than two-and-a-half times as much money from fewer than half as many events. All of which only underlines a) how much of a buffer zone leading players enjoy and b) why they spend so much of their time in the US rather than Europe.
Just to rub salt into an already open wound, the European Tour recently announced that money won in the upcoming Singapore Open will count in the Race to Dubai as part of a co-sanctioning agreement with the Asian Tour. The Singapore Open has a 36-hole two-day qualifying event. In Asia. And it is scheduled to begin on the last day of the Castello Masters in Spain.
"I know at least one player has suggested that we have a qualifier in Europe, but nothing has been done about it," continues Coltart. "That's typical, sadly.
"Did the tour really think that none of us would want to go and try to qualify at a time of year when everyone is desperate to play? I for one would love to have had that chance."
Chance? On the European Tour and elsewhere, that is far from a fine – and fair – thing.
