Questioning the wisdom of going after the dollar

Questioning the wisdom of going after the dollar Justin Rose has enjoyed a terrific few weeks which might well have important ramifications for the rest of his career. First, the 25 year-old Englishman created headline news when he finished third at the Buick Classic in Connecticut to confirm his PGA Tour playing privileges for the 2006 season. Then he gladdened the hearts of many Europeans when he confirmed he would be rejoining the European Tour and would therefore be eligible for forthcoming European Ryder Cup matches. Rose endured a dreadful start to the 2005 season but over the last two months or so he has played well enough to ensure that he has retained his US tour card for the forthcoming season. That fightback started when he finished 13th behind Kenny Perry at the Bank of America Colonial. It continued with a strong share of 15th place at the Reno-Tahoe Open and was capped one week later by his first top-three finish of the season at the Buick, which saw him jump up to 66th place on the USPGA Tour money list with over £500,000. Rose's profile remains a good deal lower than it was in 1998 when he finished fourth in The Open at Royal Birkdale as a teenaged amateur or in 2002 when he won both the Dunhill Championship and the Victor Chandler British Masters. But at least he still has somewhere to play next season - which is more than can be said for some of the other European golfers who have opted to play on the PGA Tour. Some - such as Greg Owen and Brian Davis - have found instantaneous success but many others have not and have been left to rue the cost. Sweden's Per Ulrik Johansson headed to the States in the early 2000s but after enjoying some initial success - like Owen and Davis - he soon lost his status. Nowadays, the former Ryder Cup player spends much of his time languishing on the secondary Nationwide Tour, where he has made just one cut all season. He has had six invites onto the PGA Tour our but to date has won just £70,000, well short of the £350,000 or so he will need to earn a card for 2006. Johansson's travails offer stark proof of how an American dream can go badly wrong and if more is needed one just has to look at the problems 2002 Ryder Cup hero Phillip Price has had to endure. The Welshman opted to play full time in America after finishing 13th at last year's Qualifying School. But Price, who won the European Open as little as two years ago, was languishing in 161st place on the US PGA money list as we entered September and looks almost certain to have to return to the Q School should he decide to extend his American sojourn. In hindsight at least, Price could be said to have made the wrong decision in selecting to abandon the European Tour in favour of the vast riches on the other side of the Atlantic. Certainly, his timing could be described as suspect given that he chose to make the switch at a time when his world ranking was too low to give him places in the Majors and the World Golf Championship events. Precedence shows that it is relatively simple to prosper in America if you have access to the Majors and the other big-money events but there is also ample evidence to suggest the opposite is also the case - which is why I was somewhat surprised to learn that Owen has chosen to relinquish his European Tour membership in favour of a full time schedule on the US Tour. Owen's decision came towards the end of a terrific season in which he has won more than £750,000 in America - but who is to say he can repeat that sort of form next year, particularly as the success he has enjoyed this year still has not brought invites to the Majors and the WGC events? All it would take is a slight downturn in form to see the former British Masters champion catapulted into the same sort of make-or-break situation that Rose has found himself in and, once inveigled in that sort of pressurised situation, there's no guarantee what the outcome might be. I wish Owen the best of luck for the future - even though for the life of me I cannot understand how anybody can pass up the prospect of Ryder Cup honours - and in the meantime will watch Rose's career with renewed interest. The charismatic young Englishman has already shown immense resilience: (a) to overcome his dreadful start as a professional when he missed so many European Tour cuts, (b) to put the premature death of his father behind him and (c) to dig himself out of the predicament he found himself on this year's US Tour. All of this suggests that he might be exactly the sort of resolute character Ian Woosnam needs in his corner come next year's Ryder Cup at the K Club.