Golfing stars reap rich rewards

Twenty golfers became millionaires on the European tour this year – in this season alone.

Ian Poulter joined the former group with his €603,675 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 fellow Northern Irishman 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 €4m and €2.3m 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 €878,000. The leading earner was a South African then as well – Dale Hayes. With the grand sum of €29,480.

When Nick Faldo won his first Order of Merit crown in 1983 he did so with €171,667. When Colin Montgomerie started his run of seven in a row in 1993 it was with €882,217.

Now winning €143,780 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 €14.

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.

Inevitably, though, there are challenges ahead for the new chief.

The US Tour, while still much the richer of the two, is making demands on some of its international players that could reduce their appearances outside America.

And then there is Seve Ballesteros.

At a time in his career when he ought to be one of the tour’s assets as they seek global sponsors to keep the expansion going, Ballesteros is under investigation over an alleged assault on tour referee and fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Zamora.

“At this stage we are not prepared to say what may or may not happen (Ballesteros could be banned),” commented O’Grady. “We just find the situation very sad if what is alleged is correct.

“We are very disappointed. Seve is arguably our greatest champion, our current most charismatic champion and it would be our hope it’s handled very sympathetically, but at the same time it’s out duty to protect the normal standards of behaviour.”

Next September the fourth edition of the Seve Trophy match, Great Britain and Ireland versus Continental Europe, is being held at The Wynward in the north east of England.

Ballesteros is the captain of the European side and his company Amen Corner promote the event. But, only a year after he was fined and severely reprimanded for an outburst after a slow play disqualification, the former Open and Masters champion is embroiled in controversy again.

As for the US Tour’s stance on the likes of Els, Goosen and young Australian Adam Scott O’Grady and Schofield have let their feelings be known.

Els brought the matter into public last month and O’Grady says: “It seems quite an extraordinary pressure to put on a player of his level who plays usually 17 or 18 tournaments in the United States any way.

"He’s always prepared to listen if we need him to play somewhere, but he’s a very hard man to tell to do something. You do ask him, usually politely, and sometimes he says ‘Yes.’

“We debated it initially at the Players’ Championship (in March). We have seen it coming. Retief Goosen has been suffering under the same stricture. We are not happy about it.”

Schofield, who is to continue in a consultancy role under O’Grady, added: “The worry is if they are going to lean on Ernie, we know they have already done so with Retief, 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 with the European tour?

“It seems an extraordinary approach when the guy is playing well in excess of his minimum.” Standard US Tour rules stipulate 15 events for membership.

The World Cup in Spain in two weeks could see discussions on an issue to which Els has reacted angrily.

“There’s a world outside America and I’m part of it,” the world number two said. “They can’t restrict me from playing where I want to play,” he said.

“They want over 20 and nothing abroad, but I am not hurting their tour at all with my schedule. I’m just helping the European tour and why should I change?

“You can’t start telling me ‘hey, come over here and leave the rest of the world.’ It’s not going to happen that way.”