Americans lose interest in traditional October events
Tiger Woods and other Americans have fallen out with two events,the World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, which, with the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St Andrews, traditionally forms the backbone of the October calendar. Both are looking
increasingly flimsy in the contemporary world of professional golf.
Who is the dominant golfer in the world and which of strokeplay and matchplay golf is considered to be the more exciting? The answer to the former question is obviously Woods, winner of three of this year's major championships, while matchplay, though played far less often, is generally thought to throw up more than its share of surprises. If you were the sponsor of next week's Wentworth championship, how much would you pay to make sure that Woods was in the
field?
The story goes that representatives of Cisco Systems, the event's sponsor, first offered Woods $1 million (around £700.000) for one year. That was turned down and so they increased their offer to $5 million for two years. Still, Woods said no. Cisco took a deep breath and, allegedly, offered $20 million for three years.
That Woods turned that down too, tells you a lot about the declining status of what was once the pre-eminent matchplay tournament in the world but now plays second fiddle to the World Golf Championship matchplay event, sponsored by Andersen Consulting, that has been held in San Diego these past two years. Darren Clarke defeated Tiger Woods in the final of the event this year.
It is becoming clear that Americans will not travel to Europe for these two events as they used to, when it seemed they could not wait to stock up on corduroy trousers and cashmere sweaters.
Tiger Woods allegedly turned down $20m for 3 years just for turning up at the Wentworth Matchplay.Allsport.
For the first time in its 36 years the Wentworth tournament will include only one American, Bob May. Although May pushed Woods to the limit in the recent US PGA Championship, he has not yet won a tournament in the US. Containing seven Europeans, including Nick Faldo, the field is weak, even though Ernie Els, who finished second in the first three major championships of the year, and Vijay Singh, the Masters champion, are both included.
Clarke, Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Sergio García, Thomas Bjorn and Padraig Harrington join Faldo in the 12-man field and it will be interesting to see who the four seeds are. Els, Singh and Westwood, now ranked fourth in the world, are certainties. Will the other be Montgomerie, the champion?
The US team for the Alfred Dunhill Cup a week later cannot be announced at this stage. Tom Lehman will play and so will John Daly, whose inclusion is surely a ruse by the sponsor to boost spectator interest. In golfing terms, Daly is a has-been. He walked out of the US Open after the first round and missed the cut in the Open and the US PGA.He is long-hitting but unreliable, and the suspicion is that is why he is in the team.
