ERNIE ELS REVEALS DISCORD BETWEEN
TOP PLAYERS AND US PGA TOUR OFFICIALS
FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Ernie Els has publicly exposed the growing rift between the world's top players and the US PGA Tour.
Speaking on the eve of the BMW Championship, the third event in the new FedEx Cup play-off series, Els claimed the US tour and the players were growing further apart.
"I just feel in certain ways we've kind of grown apart a little bit, especially the players and the commissioner's office," said the South African. "We've grown apart because of all these big decisions that were made without the real knowledge of the players."
The top players are particularly upset that the 10 million US dollars (£5million) prize for the winner of the series is a deferred annuity that cannot be collected until the player turns 45.
"I don't think Tiger (Woods) knew about it, Phil (Mickelson) didn't know about it, I didn't know about it. We're going to see that money hopefully 20 or 25 years down the line," added Els. "We love what the tour has done for us but we just need to get closer to the big decisions, because then we won't get into problems down the line."
Woods agreed the issue of the deferred 10million US dollars prize had not gone down well with the players.
"It's not the true pay-out. I may not be around to collect it," said the world number one.
"How great would it be - like in the World Series of Poker - at the first tee starting the first day of the Tour Championship, all you see is (10 million cash) stacked up there and that's what we're playing for. That would create a lot of buzz."
If the first year of the play-off series has shown anything, it is that most of the top players are not prepared to play four weeks in a row. Woods skipped the first event, Els the second, while Phil Mickelson, a winner last week but who has also expressed disappointment with commissioner Tim Finchem, and Padraig Harrington are missing this week.
"We all didn't think it was in the best interests of us players to play that much," Woods said. "It's a lot of golf and these are all big events."
TOP PLAYERS AND US PGA TOUR OFFICIALS
FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Ernie Els has publicly exposed the growing rift between the world's top players and the US PGA Tour.
Speaking on the eve of the BMW Championship, the third event in the new FedEx Cup play-off series, Els claimed the US tour and the players were growing further apart.
"I just feel in certain ways we've kind of grown apart a little bit, especially the players and the commissioner's office," said the South African. "We've grown apart because of all these big decisions that were made without the real knowledge of the players."
The top players are particularly upset that the 10 million US dollars (£5million) prize for the winner of the series is a deferred annuity that cannot be collected until the player turns 45.
"I don't think Tiger (Woods) knew about it, Phil (Mickelson) didn't know about it, I didn't know about it. We're going to see that money hopefully 20 or 25 years down the line," added Els. "We love what the tour has done for us but we just need to get closer to the big decisions, because then we won't get into problems down the line."
Woods agreed the issue of the deferred 10million US dollars prize had not gone down well with the players.
"It's not the true pay-out. I may not be around to collect it," said the world number one.
"How great would it be - like in the World Series of Poker - at the first tee starting the first day of the Tour Championship, all you see is (10 million cash) stacked up there and that's what we're playing for. That would create a lot of buzz."
If the first year of the play-off series has shown anything, it is that most of the top players are not prepared to play four weeks in a row. Woods skipped the first event, Els the second, while Phil Mickelson, a winner last week but who has also expressed disappointment with commissioner Tim Finchem, and Padraig Harrington are missing this week.
"We all didn't think it was in the best interests of us players to play that much," Woods said. "It's a lot of golf and these are all big events."
Labels: Pro Men
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Thursday, September 06, 2007
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home