Tiger admits to following cash

The old Tiger may have side-stepped the subject of whether the lure of millions of dollars dictated his schedule, but not the new Tiger.

It is rumoured that Woods will receive around £1.5 million for teeing up in the Middle East. It is not the first time the 36-year-old will benefit from an astronomical amount for crossing the Atlantic, with most major tours regularly paying appearance fees to entice the game’s big hitters.

At the 2010 Australian Masters for example, Woods received an appearance fee of around $3 million Australian dollars, more than 10 times the amount that champion Stuart Appleby went on to win.

So why do the European Tour entice players with a guaranteed payday, yet the PGA Tour stand resolute on their no win no fee format?

Part of the answer can be found in the size of the respective purses. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship this week carries a prize fund of $2.7 million. In contrast, the Farmer's Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on the PGA Tour has a $6 million purse.

Furthermore, because of appearance money paid to Woods, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer, the Abu Dhabi field contains six of the world’s top 10, compared to just one at Torrey Pines.

There are of course positives to not paying appearance fees as well.

It is surely unfair that a player who puts in hours of hard work and grafts his way up the leaderboard can come away with less than somebody who misses the cut but gets an appearance fee.

What is more, the money, often paid from local taxpayers funds, does not necessary guarantee a crowd pleasing performance. During the 1997 Heineken Classic John Daly played his final round in 2 hours and 10 minutes after he shot a third round 83, angering tournament officials who had splashed out to bring him to Western Australia.

There is also a good argument that the money spent on players should instead be used to offer discounted or even free entry to the tournaments. This would improve the atmosphere at the event and introduce new players and fans to the game.

It will be interesting to see how the PGA Tour responds to the matter. I think they only will if the big names turn down their tournaments on a more regular basis, causing a fall in the television viewing figures.

In the meantime, the European Tour will be happy to see the stars of the game supporting their events in the Middle East. After all, haven’t we all been brought up on the saying that it’s the taking part that counts?