Major tournaments suffering as stars pick and choose

PLANNING the year’s schedule is one of the most important tasks for any top ranking professional golfer. The temptation to play in just about everything is always there given the enormous sums of money on offer almost every week.

However, that would clearly be impossible and indeed the majority agree that to try and take in more than 30 events per annum is unwise. Bearing that in mind, it is understandable that they pick and choose, judging as best they can the tournaments and venues best suited to their requirements. The public often find it difficult to understand why, say, Padraig Harrington opted out of the European Tour's flagship event, the Volvo PGA Championship with its massive prize fund of €3,526, 000, and won't be involved in this week's French Open which has a purse of €2.5 million.

Harrington, of course, isn't the only one who foregoes these kinds of riches in ensuring a balanced schedule and they all have their own good reasons, even if it is a little surprising that Padraig, Darren Clarke and others should opt to be idle for two successive weeks in the height of the season. Their absence surely can't sit too well with sponsors who are putting up vast sums of money but it's the reality and they know the score when they get involved.