Making a million in a single season

TWENTY GOLFERS became euro millionaires on the European tour this year – this season alone, not since their careers began.

Ian Poulter joined the group with his €500,000 victory in the Volvo Masters on Sunday and six of his Ryder Cup team-mates Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Thomas Levet, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke and David Howell are there too.

The 10 are completed by Clarke's compatriot Graeme McDowell, up a massive 90 places on the Order of Merit at sixth, and South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, who led the way with stg£2.8m and £1.6m respectively.

The figures show how dramatically things have changed under the stewardship of Ken Schofield, whose 30-year reign as executive director ends on December 31. When he took over in 1975 the fledgling circuit had total prize money of £611,000. The leading earner was a South African then as well Dale Hayes. With the grand sum of £20,507.

When Nick Faldo won his first Order of Merit crown in 1983 he did so with £119,416. When Colin Montgomerie started his run of seven in a row in 1993 it was with £613,683.

Now winning £100,000 does not even guarantee you stay on tour. Australian Jarrod Moseley achieved that this season, but by finishing 117th on the money list he lost his card incredibly, by less than £10.

Schofield is handing over the reins to his deputy George O'Grady and with the Ryder Cup sitting proudly in the trophy cabinet as it has after seven of the last 10 matches the situation is rosy indeed. Schofield's reign has been unbelievably successful as the former bank manager transformed the Tour from something like a ragbag into a slick organisation now fit to rival even their counterparts in the US, who were the dominant force for so long. This latter point is best demonstrated by how open and candid Schofield and his successor at the beginning of 2005, George O'Grady, have become in commenting on the recent communications received by Ernie Els and Retief Goosen from Ted Finchem, the US Tour chief. There was a time when they would shy away from anything that could be construed as critical of the Americans. Not so any more.

"The fact that Ernie has said that he's concerned should be concerning them", mused O'Grady. "It seems like quite an extraordinary pressure to put on a player of his level who usually plays 17 or 18 tournaments in the States anyway. He likes our PGA Championship because he likes Wentworth and is always prepared to listen if we want him to play somewhere. But he's a very hard man to tell to do something."

Schofield saw it in the same light: "Ernie in every sense of the word is a very big fella and will know his own mind. If they are going to lean on Ernie and we know they have already done so with Retief Goosen, what about Adam Scott, Trevor Immelman and the other generation of young guys that normally come from the Southern Hemisphere and very often make their start on the European Tour? It seems an extraordinary approach when the guy is playing well in excess of his minimum."

One can't help but feel that the US authorities have picked on the wrong guy to muscle into playing more on their tour in Ernie Els and they might not get much too change out of Goosen either. In any case, it will no longer be a problem for Ken Schofield who, however, promises that while he's no longer the boss, he will still be around the scene until they put him in a box.

"It's been a fantastic thirty years and the love affair for me began in 1970 at Portmarnock. Ireland and the Irish have been one of the happiest parts of the job," he said.

In fact, Ken will act as consultant to George O'Grady so perhaps in some ways the change won't be all that great! However, the word Volvo before European Tour will disappear at the end of the year and is like to be replaced by another car company, BMW, who would also become the sponsors of the PGA Championship. Part of George O'Grady's role will be to further improve the status of European Tour players so that the financial backers will see it as worth their while to keep pouring in the cash.

"We'll probably have to work harder at letting everyone know just how good all of our players are", said O'Grady. "If the Ryder Cup didn't bring that home, then nothing will. If certain players think they are better served by going to America, they must be free to make that choice. We had a meeting during the week where a bigger number of players than we've ever had committed themselves to how we can make the European Tour even better, how we can have pride in the Tour, how we can foster a team spirit that came out of this Ryder Cup and which travelled to our sponsors."

With Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and especially Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, not to mention Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, planning to play more and more in the States, O'Grady will have more than the Southern Hemisphere golfers to worry about. With the American stranglehold on the game being loosened with the passing of every year, the battle for the top players is becoming increasingly competitive. From 2005 onward, that will be a concern for George O'Grady rather than Ken Schofield.

From an Irish perspective, Gary Murphy made €267,741 and Peter Lawrie picked up €238,685 during the season, even though they respectively finished no better than 79th and 89th in the order of merit. Damien McGrane in 101st position totalled €193,008 for coming in 101st.

Look out, too, for another Ulster golfer, Rory McIlroy from Holywood. He's still only 15 but the consensus among the people who know these things is that he could be one of the greatest Irish golfers of them all.