The Revival of the European Tour

Els and Woods squared off in Dubai. Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

There's also the matter of financial backing. Barclays, Deutsche Bank and BMW, three of the major players in the FedEx Cup, are based in Europe and also are important sponsors on the European Tour. Because top-ranked players generally play in events their sponsors support, all it takes is five or six highly ranked players to compete for a tournament's World Ranking points to grow, resulting in more credibility. "The international players are just playing a world tour now," said Lee Westwood. "Ernie [Els], Sergio, [Padraig] Harrington, we're all basically playing a world schedule, and you find the higher-ranked players all sort of end up at the same event. The World Ranking points go up, and all of a sudden it becomes attractive for everybody to play it."

This formula is how Martin Kaymer can win the Abu Dhabi Championship and climb to 23rd in the world and qualify for WGC events, while Americans such as Pat Perez and Bart Bryant can't make the field at Doral. Conversely, when the FBR Open goes up against Dubai, or the Crowne Plaza Invitational gets a date opposite the BMW PGA Championship, they have a smaller pool of international players to promote their events. Even this year's Honda Classic was hurt by the Johnnie Walker Classic, which drew Adam Scott, Vijay Singh and Colin Montgomerie to India, while K.J. Choi and Padraig Harrington played the Ballantine's Championship in Korea, held opposite the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

"There are just that many more options these world-ranked players have to play globally," said Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament director Scott Wellington. "That's their right to do that, but it's unfortunate for us, missing those guys."

The Palmer event still gets its share of foreign talent, but the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial later this month is a different matter. One of the PGA Tour's most storied events, it sits in a black hole on the schedule, opposite the European Tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, at an equally heralded venue, Wentworth. "Certainly it's a challenge," says Crowne Plaza tournament director Peter Ripa. "So many of the international players are in the top 30 in the world, whereas 10 years ago it was predominantly the PGA Tour and U.S.-born players. The other thing to understand is that this is a Ryder Cup year, and in Europe that's critically important." Ripa adds one other crucial point regarding the top 30 players in the world: With all the money that's out there, both on the table and under it (in the form of appearance fees), "[Players are] not adding; they're subtracting from their schedules," he said.

At very least, they are reallocating. Adam Scott skipped the PGA Tour's Mercedes-Benz Championship and returned to the Middle East for the first time since 2002. He won the Qatar Masters with a final-round 61 -- where he earned more World Ranking points than he did for his win last week at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship -- and rejoined the European Tour this season.

"I consider myself a global golfer," he said prior to Qatar. "The last couple years unfortunately through different events, I've not been able to play the schedule I wanted, which would allow me to play my 11 in Europe. Money is growing, and we're playing in areas of the world that are emerging, and that is certainly attractive to me. I enjoy playing golf all over the world and the challenge that presents. I think it makes you a complete golfer."

Scott even renamed his company "Adam Scott Global Enterprises." Hearing that, close friend Justin Rose said, "That sounds very Hollywood. I'll have to start calling him 'Global.'" Rose is just as worldly, with homes in Orlando for the PGA Tour and London for his European Tour work.

Now a top-10 player, Rose also validates Ripa's point. "There are times of the year when the European Tour is really strong and a time of the year when the PGA Tour is really strong," said Rose, who maintains membership on both. "For me it makes sense to fit my schedule around those periods."