Through his victory in Denver last weekend, Ernie Els demonstrated the relative ease with which a leading player can now be a successful member of both the European and US tours. But by winning the Scandinavian Masters, Lee Westwood illustrated why he has no need to abandon Europe as a base.
The competitive comfort which both of these players enjoy has become possible through a significant overlapping of tournament earnings in World Golf Championship events. And the same, lucrative tournaments have prompted Darren Clarke to take a circumspect view of his tumble from number one in the European Order of Merit.
"With almost a million pounds going to the winners of the last two events of the season, it is far too early to be worrying about such matters," said Clarke yesterday. "In a way, I welcome the fact that Lee has taken over from me at this stage. I expect it to ease the pressure on me."
Clarke, who has been active for more than 11 out of the last 13 weeks, is enjoying a welcome family break prior to departing on Friday for the USPGA Championship. He believes he probably erred in playing the European Grand Prix directly after the US Open, though he had the bonus of sharing third place at Slaley Hall.
"Obviously I would love to win the Order of Merit, but I generally feel more comfortable when I'm chasing, rather than being out there in front," he added. "And with so much money at stake, I'm certainly not worried about a gap of less than £73,000 between myself and Lee."
In the last two counting events of the season, the Volvo Masters at Montecastillo on November 2nd to 5th will carry a first prize of £330,000, and, a week later, the American Express Championship at Valderrama will have a first prize of £660,000. Which accounts for the Tyroneman's lack of immediate concern.
Neither Clarke nor Padraig Harrington will be competing in this week's British Masters. But Paul McGinley will be leading the Irish challenge at Woburn in the company of Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth and Gary Murphy.
McGinley needs a top-20 finish to be absolutely certain of a place in the $5 million NEC Invitational, which follows the USPGA Championship. The top-12 Europeans in the Order of Merit next Sunday night will qualify for Firestone, and, at the moment, McGinley is in 10th place, more than £15,000 ahead of his closest challenger, Andrew Coltart, who is also likely to get through.
By winning the International at Castle Pines last Sunday, Els moved to number two in the US money list with earnings of $3,073,239 from 16 events this season. So, he has already exceeded his mandatory 15 tournaments as a member of the American tour.
Meanwhile, he is third on the European Order of Merit with earnings of £1,104,580 from seven events. Through some quick currency adjustments, one could conclude that the South African has cross-Atlantic tournament earnings in excess of £3 million sterling for the year: which would be wrong. The fact is that the player's earnings from the Andersen Consulting Matchplay Championship, the US Masters, the US Open and the British Open, are counted on both lists. And given that Els has the doubtful distinction of having been runner-up in three of the season's "majors" to date, his cross-over earnings are quite substantial.
To qualify for European Tour membership, Els must play in 11 tournaments over here. But effectively, this comes down to only five, given that WCG events and three of the four "majors" account for six. And two of those - the Johnnie Walker Classic (Taiwan, November 1999) and the Heineken Classic (Australia, January 2000) - were in Australasia.
So, the only tournaments Els has actually played in Europe so far this year have been last month's Loch Lomond Invitational, which he won, and the British Open, in which he was second behind Tiger Woods. Still, his record on both sides of the Atlantic has been quite remarkable.
He has had no fewer than eight top-five finishes in the US: won - International; 2nd - Mercedes Championship, US Masters, Memorial Tournament, US Open; T3rd MCI Classic; 5th - Sony Open Hawaii, Buick Classic. Meanwhile in European events he has never been out of the top four: won - Loch Lomond; 2nd - British Open; 3rd - Johnnie Walker Classic; 4th - Heineken Classic.
This explains his current status of second in the world rankings, where he has pushed David Duval down to third, while Westwood remains at number seven and Clarke at 15th.
But the Englishman's European dominance has been quite remarkable, especially after winning the Deutsche Bank Open in which Woods was tied third. Westwood's European appearances since then have been: T2nd - PGA Championship; T4th - English Open; won - European Grand Prix; won - European Open; T64th British Open; T3rd - Dutch Open; won - Scandinavian Masters.
As it happens, leading Spaniards Jose-Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez plan to play in America as members of the US Tour next year, when they will take advantage of dual qualifying events, just as Els is doing. Which raises the question as to why Westwood and Clarke don't follow suit.
"They don't because they don't have to," said their manager, Andrew "Chubby" Chandler yesterday. "As number seven in the world, Lee can play anywhere he likes anytime he likes. And where Darren is concerned, the same would be true in 90 per cent of cases, especially in view of his win (Andersen Consulting) at La Costa."
One thing is certain: the ease of Els' activities seem light-years removed from the situation 20 years ago when Seve Ballesteros, then a fit young man in his early 20s, complained bitterly of the physical strain of trying to compete on both sides of the Atlantic.
Order Of Merit: 1 L Westwood (Eng) £1,177,212; 2 D Clarke (Ire) £1,104,753; 3 E Els (Sth Africa) £1,104,68; 4 C Montgomerie (Scot) £722,155; 5 M Campbell (NZ) £594,708; 6 T Bjorn (Den) £486,056; 7 MA Jimenez (Spa) £465,425; 8 P Harrington (Ire) £409,461; 9 P Price (Wal) £379,462; 10 JM Olazabal (Spa) £374,469. Other Irish positions - 14 P McGinley £313,944; 108 D Smyth £61,666; 134 G Murphy £38,421.
US Money List (US unless stated): 1 T Woods $5,735,581; 2 Els $3,073,239; 3 P Mickelson $2,912,824; 4 H Sutton $2,485,161; 5 J Parnevik (Swe) $2,258,656; 6 D Love $1,931,392; 7 V Singh (Fiji) $1,930,128; 8 T Lehman $1,910,739; 9 D Duval $1,833,746; 10 K Triplett $1,821,707. Other placing - 227 K Nolan (Ire) $17,841.
US Seniors' Money List (US unless stated): 1 B Fleisher $1,837,906; 2 H Irwin $1,775,948; 3 L Nelson $1,568,350; 4 D Quigley $1,451,563; 5 G Morgan $1,146,210; 6 A Doyle $1,048,671; 7 T Kite $970,415; 8 H Green $950,057; 9 T Jenkins $916,696; 10 D Tewell $912,603. Other placing - 52 C O'Connor Jnr (Ire) $228,966.
