Players gotta play, so how do we make it happen?

     The premier event on the PGA Tour kicks off on Thursday with a less than premier field.  Prestige, money, more Official World Golf Ranking points and a five year exemption for the winner were not enough to entice the first and sixth ranked players in the world to enter the field.  Make no mistake, that's a big hit to the PGA Tour's solar plexus, despite the spin the Tour's marketing folks will use to try and make the best of the situation.  It's no secret that the PGA Tour created The Players Championship with the intention of having the tournament become the "fifth major" and every decision, every tournament tweak in purse size, scheduling and world ranking and FEDEX Cup points values has been made to increase the prestige of the event and insure that the top 50 (at least) in the world tee it up there every year.  The Tour knows that major championships are not proclaimed or created fully formed, they have to be gradually accepted by the players and the fans as one of the most career defining tournament moments.  The Tour also knows that two of the top ten players in the world thumbing their noses at the tournament will kill any chance it ever has to gain "major" status.

     In an earlier post (Sharing the sand pail, May 4) I promised to post my take on a solution to this problem.  To my mind, the goal of any solution should be to find a way to some middle ground that increases the likelyhood of having the best players in the tours' best events, and recognizing that the world's best players will inevitably increase their presence in international markets as the game increases it's own global footprint.  This would require some negotiation between the PGA Tour and the European Tour, but hopefully the two governing bodies would recognize the benefits, rather than guarding their own narrow interests.

     First, a preliminary step:

• Give full, co-sanctioned status to all five World Golf Championship events starting in 2012.  Currently, only the three WGC events in the United States enjoy full sanction by both tours.  The HSBC Champions exists in a kind of in-between state, counting in full in Europe but only partially in the U.S.  For those of you who only count four WGC events, remember the South African based Tournament of Hope begins next year with the biggest purse in golf.

     Then, lower the minimum number of tournaments on both The PGA and the European Tours to ten for players who fall into the following criteria:

• Are ranked in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the beginning of the golf season.
• Are elligible for and agree to maintain full status on both tours.
• Who will agree in advance to play in the premier event for both tours (The Players Championship for the PGA Tour and the BMW PGA Championship for the European Tour).

     There it is in all of it's simplicity.  For those who are counting, playing in all four major championships, the WGC events and the individual tours premier events totals the required minumum of ten tournaments for each tour, on a committment of 11 weeks.  This plan rewards good performance, fills the fields with the best players, benefits both tours and allows players wishing to maintain an international presence to do so with a maximum of flexibility.  I believe this plan would result in more play on both tours, as players would be better able to schedule blocks of tournaments in the U.S, Europe and Asia, mitigating the effects of travel fatigue.  Events other than the ones above would also benefit as the top 50, freed of the low number of tournaments afforded to non-members, would gravitate to events they haven't historically played.  With more of the best playing all over the world, the game of golf raises itself in the public conciousness and has a chance to generate more revenue in the form of sponsorships and advertising from wider markets.  Every body gives a few things up, but everybody gains as well.