General / Paul Krishnamurty / 04 December 2007 /

Paul Krishnamurty considers the potential of a winter world schedule once the European and PGA Tours are over...

Reading Bill Elliott's interesting recent column about the changing face - and venues - of world golf set me thinking about how the golfing calendar could be improved. There is no question, whether those of us living by GMT like it or not, that Asia and the Middle-East will increasingly take centre stage outside the Fedex Cup season and that fewer big events will be played on the many great, historic courses of Britain, Europe and Australia. Indeed, there has been much discussion in recent weeks concerning what some see as the terminal decline of the Australasian Tour with long-established prestigious tournaments such as the Masters failing to compete with rival tours in attracting even the biggest Australian names.

However, a look at this week's line-up for the Australian PGA offers a more optimistic perspective. Not only are virtually all the leading home players in attendance - including Adam Scott who controversially snubbed the Australian Masters - but a host of PGA Tour stars have also made the long trip. South African Rory Sabbatini is the star turn, alongside emerging American stars such as Brandt Snedeker, Ryan Moore and Jason Gore. In previous years, a top American golfer in this part of the world during December has been a rare sight. This year's stronger turnout suggests to me that with the Fedex Cup drawing the US season to a close a couple of months earlier than usual, other regional Tours stand a better chance than ever of attracting such stars.

Perhaps the World Golf Championships was ahead of its time. When it started in 1998, the WGC events crossed two or even three continents in an attempt to spread the game's appeal. Initially, the Amex Championship was played in Europe, and the World Matchplay planned to move to different countries. However, a disastrous turnout for the 2000 World Matchplay in Australia prompted a rethink. Back then, a big percentage of the top-64 were American, and over half the original field refused to travel. When last-minute replacement and rank outsider Steve Stricker (ironically one of the few Americans in the field) landed the spoils, the sponsors abandoned that idea and the Matchplay's regular venue became the comparatively dull US course of La Costa. Even the Amex Championship struggled to attract a full field when played at Valderrama and The Grove, though at least Tiger's relationship with the sponsor ensured his presence.

But now, in response to the rescheduling of the PGA Tour, there could be a golden opportunity for Tour chiefs to make a beefed-up World Tour a reality. The final Fedex Cup event is in mid-September with the majority of players eliminated by the last week in August, after which point the world's top players have at least four months before their next big event in the States. So why not create some kind of annual global points list, which could have a prestigious and lucrative finale just like the current European Tour and Fedex Cup? There could be big events planned for Europe in the autumn, followed by Asia, Australia, South Africa and the Middle-East over the winter months. I see no good reason why a new, global money-list couldn't co-exist with the Fedex Cup, just as the Order of Merit does now.

There's certainly no shortage of world-class courses available, more so than on the PGA Tour in my view. It was quite tragic to see, in last week's New Zealand Open, a championship golf course hosting a tournament that couldn't attract a single member of the world's top-100. Nor was it the first time - Huntingdale and the other classic old Australian courses, Fanling in Hong Kong, Fancourt in South Africa have all struggled to attract fields worthy of such testing, championship venues. All would make suitable venues for the high-profile closing stages of an annual World Tour, not to mention the plethora of world-class venues being created in China and the oil-rich Gulf states. And while I'm fantasising, perhaps we could ditch the amateurs and raise the profile of the Dunhill Links Championship.

As for the few Americans who would refuse to travel, are they really so essential? Obviously any tournament that can boast any of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk is going to have a massively raised profile, and it would take a king's ransom to lure any of them across the world at this time of year. But beyond the big-three I can't think of too many current American golfers notorious for putting bums on seats. If Zach Johnson and Charles Howell opted for an extended winter break at home, would anyone really miss them?

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