The Asian Tour and European Tour enjoy a courteous relationship with an underlying dose of tension. These negative vibes have intensified over the past few days after Asian Tour supreme Kyi Hla Han hit out at the payment of appearance fees to big-name golfers.
Players such as South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, Colin Montgomerie, Paul Casey and John Daly are believed to be paid up to US$250,000 each to play at this week’s BMW Asian Open in Shanghai. According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper, Han is not happy with the situation, and was quoted as saying:
“It is not something we like to see here in Asia, but I guess it is a sponsor’s decision. I did not agree with the practice when I was a player and I don’t agree with it now. It effectively takes money out of my members’ pockets and we would much rather see all the players’ budget going into the prize fund where everyone has the opportunity to earn in direct proportion to performance.”
There are several tournaments sanctioned by both tours taking place on Asian shores. It gives Asian golfers a chance to win big tournaments and earn playing rights on the European Tour. It also provides fans in Asia the chance to see some of the top European players in action. Needless to say, it also offers European players the chance of a big pay-day, whether they win or not.
The newspaper quoted European Tour chief executive George O’Grady as defending the practice, saying:
“It really is not an issue. We have our guidelines for extra-curricular activities and this falls within them. In theory, no more than 25 per cent of the prize fund should be paid towards extra-curricular activities, which is what these guys are doing this week in Shanghai.”
At least the marquee golfers were doing their best to earn their money the hard way, with Montgomerie, Els and Goosen putting themselves in good positions after the first round at the Tomson Pudong Shanghai Golf Club.
Montgomerie carded a three-under-par 69, three strokes behind first-round leader, Raphael Jacquelin, of France. Els and Goosen were not far behind with both players going one-under 71. Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen was second on 67 followed by a trio on 68 of Australian Gavin Flint, France’s Gregory Havret and South Korean Lee Sung.
It is the same in Tennis, the rich get richer……..