Stay-at-home Americans are at it again -

eight of them won't go to Shanghai

Ten players - eight of them American, including US Open champion Lucas Glover - have turned down places in next week's HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai.
The event becomes part of the World Golf Championships series for the first time and has prize money totalling £4.2million.
But while the sponsors are naturally delighted that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are in the 78-strong field, the list of withdrawals will not go down so well. Glover's compatriots Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, Kenny Perry, Scott Verplank, Dustin Johnson and Heath Slocum, plus Fiji's Vijay Singh and South African Tim Clark, are not making the trip.
The World Golf Championships have all been staged in the United States since The Grove in England was the venue for the American Express Championship in 2006.
Since the series started 10 years ago, the Accenture Match Play has only once been taken out of America - that was in Australia in 2001 and the field was the weakest ever - and the Bridgestone Invitational has always been at the Firestone course in Akron.
All of which goes to prove that American pro golfers in general don't like travelling outside America. What are they afraid of?
Now you realise how much the R&A owe to Arnold Palmer for blazing the trail four decades ago in coming across to play in the Open championship on a regular basis.
Send your comments to Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Not ALL leading American pros stay at home ...

First response from Danny Wightman:
"I can't see there is anything for them to be afraid of if they travel outside America to play golf, but some people, like fans, might think that the Americans be can't be bothered travelling long haul because they would be very tired and restless once they arrived there and not play well as a result.
"But I think they are right to turn down the chance to go to China because they've got other priorities, like family come first or playing competitions on the (US) PGA Tour which is very important to Americans golfers.
"It would be good for a country like China to see the big names of American golf playing in Shanghai, but let's be fair about this. There are plenty of leading American pros who DO play outside the States ... Mickelson went to Singapore, and Mission Hills in China; Anthony Kim went to play in Dubai and is now competing in the Volvo world match-play in Spain, and Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum were runners-up in the World Cup in China."