The U.S. has, for decades, held sway over the international golf calendar. Three of the four most-prestigious tournaments happen in the U.S. (in tennis, no nation has more than one of the four Grand Slams). The PGA Tour also has long been the world’s most-lucrative circuit, with an estimated $278 million in prize money this year.
As golf explodes in popularity throughout the world, especially in developing nations, an increasing number of tournaments are popping up in places such as Dubai, Qatar, Shanghai and Singapore. On the subcontinent, the Masters and the Johnnie Walker Classic — two recent events sanctioned by the European Tour — attracted several top stars, including South African Ernie Els, Fijian Vijay Singh and Australian Adam Scott.
As these events draw richer and more-aggressive backers, they have been offering more prize money. In November 2009, Dubai will host the Dubai World Championship, which will feature a prize purse of $10 million, making it the most-lucrative golf tournament ever for players.
Meanwhile, the declining dollar has lowered the relative value of purses at U.S. tournaments, making these Asian, Middle Eastern and European gigs harder for players to ignore. When asked during his stay in New Delhi whether he expected more top players to play outside the U.S., Mr. Els quipped, "The way the dollar is going, I’m sure."
On top of that, many newer Asian and European tournaments are paying large appearance fees to some top pros to guarantee that the field will be competitive (such fees are banned in the U.S.). That means marquee names can make big sums even when they blow their chances of winning — as Mr. Els did at the Indian Masters with a nine on the final hole of the first round. Tiger Woods reportedly received $3 million to play in the Dubai Desert Classic in February. (Mr. Woods’s agent declined to comment.)
The top flight of golfers is itself becoming more international. In 1999, 33 of the top 50 players in the world came from the U.S. Today 34 of the top 50 players come from outside America. The Qatar Masters, a European Tour event in January, attracted nine of the world’s top 25, the same number that the U.S. tour’s Buick Invitational in San Diego drew the same week. Spain’s Sergio Garcia, America’s Scott Verplank and Mr. Scott, the world’s No. 5 player, all chose Qatar over California.
"I think the majority of players look on the world as a global competition," said South African golfer Gary Player. Within five years, Mr. Player predicted, international events will be just as important as the PGA Tour.
With such heightened foreign competition, the Shell Houston Open’s decision to accept being scheduled the week before The Masters looks like a stroke of genius. Few of the best players who like to prepare for The Masters by playing in a tournament the week before will want to play in a tournament overseas because of the long travel that would be required immediately before playing in The Masters.
The merger agreement between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines (they were meant for each other) announced yesterday not only would create the world’s largest carrier if approved, but it has renewed talk (see this W$J article, too) in Houston over the fate of one of the city’s largest employers, Continental Airlines.
