Cash still king as world’s best battle for huge haul in Turkey
But that view has hardly been substantiated since then given that just three of the Medinah heroes, Martin Kaymer, Franceso Molinari and Nicolas Colsaerts, competed in the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews over the weekend and only Molinari and Kaymer contest this week’s Portugal Masters at Vilamoura.
Contrary to a commonly held belief, money still counts for multi-millionaire golfers. There can be no other reason for Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel, Lee Westwood, Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose and Webb Simpson to take part in this week’s grandiosely named Turkish Airlines World Golf final in Antalya than the prize fund of $5.2m (€4m) spread between eight players, coupled with huge appearance fees. The inaugural matchplay event beginning today doesn’t count for points on any of the tours or on the world rankings. The riches at stake ($1.5m (€1.1m) for the winner, $1m (€772,000) for the runner-up down to $300,000 (€231,000) for 7th and 8th) proves cash is king for the sport’s richest sportsmen. Furthermore, next year, the intention is to hike the first prize to $2.5m (€1.9m) — the richest in golf.
