They're all delighted to be here, Tiger Woods, Mark O'Meara, Nick Price et al: and not a mention of the financial inducements which made it possible. Meanwhile, the humble rank and file must content themselves with a possible share of the £1.2 million prize fund in the TPC Open of Europe, starting at Golf Club St Leon-Rot this morning.
Estimates of appearance fees to guarantee the presence of six out of the world's current top 10, hover around Stg£2.5 million. But it wasn't clear whether players were sufficiently disgruntled to raise the issue at their private meeting after the European Tour's a.g.m. held here last night.
For his part, Paul McGinley managed to take a positive view. "It's going to mean a massive boost for the tournament in the world rankings," said the Dubliner. "I would imagine there will be more than treble the number of points on offer compared with last week's Benson and Hedges (tournament)."
Looking at this testing, parkland stretch with a lot of water and an overall length of 7,355 yards, they will be hard-earned. Even the long hitters have been jolted by its difficulty. "I can see myself hitting a lot of long irons out there," said Darren Clarke. The effort should be eased for the Tyroneman, however, by the fact that he had his irons adjusted, after discovering the lies were three degrees too upright.
Padraig Harrington was in some doubt as to whether the course actually suited his game, insofar as it encouraged defensive play, which could lead to problems. For instance, after taking a two iron for safety off the 466-yard 12th yesterday, where water beckons down the left, he couldn't reach the green with a four-wood second shot.
But having finished runner-up in the Italian Open early this month, he added: "I'm playing well enough to win. In fact my game is as good as it's ever been." Given his splendid short game, Harrington's prospects are further boosted by the superb quality of the greens, which have earned rich praise all round.
After four successive missed cuts, Philip Walton would settle for a return to moderate form, especially with his very survival on tour depending on his keeping his card this season. But Eamonn Darcy was looking forward to another good week, after following two top-10 European finishes with a victory in the Quinn Direct ProAm last Tuesday. The remaining Irish challengers are Des Smyth and John McHenry.
Meanwhile, the value of the world number two to the tournament's sponsors can be gleaned from the advertising on the side of the tournament cars - "Tiger Woods Live!" And the sports pages of today's German newspapers are dominated by his presence.
"Der Tiger ist Los!" (the Tiger is at large) proclaimed one. Another read: "Der junge `Tiger' wie ein alter Hase", which, according to a Swedish colleague, means the young Tiger is like an old rabbit. When I expressed bafflement at the intended message, he explained with a thin smile: "That's German humour for you."
An intriguing possibility is that Woods might be upstaged here by 19-year-old Sergio Garcia, who is happy to appear simply on a sponsor's invitation. And as might be expected from a player of his years, he looked none the worse for his efforts in far off Irving, Texas last weekend, when he was third in the Byron Nelson Classic.
His golfing talent apart, Garcia is an extremely impressive young man. Potential traps were laid for him yesterday by the international media and he cleverly avoided them all. Did he consider himself good enough to play in this year's Ryder Cup, if selected? "That's a question you will have to ask Mark James (the European captain)," he replied.
The Spaniard was then asked how he felt about being the Tiger Woods of Europe. "If you are compared with Woods, Seve (Ballesteros) and (Jose-Maria) Olazabal, you must have something in your game," he said. "But I want to be Sergio Garcia."
He went on to outline his forthcoming plans which include achieving exempt status on both sides of the Atlantic. And where would his priorities lie? "Definitely in Europe," he replied. "Europe will give me the experience I need to develop as a player. But I will also play in the States and look at the situation for 2001."
As Garcia left the media centre, O'Meara was walking in. "Hi, Sergio," said the American, before pointing a finger in mock admonishment at him: "Nineteen-yearolds out; only old men are allowed in here."
Later, O'Meara praised the Spaniard as a very talented player. But he made the point: "Like most youngsters, he has yet to experience much failure." Was he a realistic Ryder Cup candidate, even at this stage? "Sure," replied the British Open champion. "He already has the experience of playing in front of large crowds and if he continues to perform as he did last week, he has to be a candidate."
Just in case we lost sight of the reality of Garcia's situation, Woods suggested: "It's important to get off to a good start and Sergio has done that. But don't forget he's played a lot of tournaments as an amateur, so he's not your typical 19-year-old. He's doing just fine."
Last week's event at The Oxfordshire launched a run of tournaments which can have a profound bearing on the composition of the Ryder Cup side. As it happened, victory for Colin Montgomerie simply strengthened his position at the top of the table.
Further down the order, however, challengers such as Harrington (12th), Sam Torrance (17th) and Miguel-Angel Jimenez (19th), will get the chance here and in next week's Volvo PGA Championship to climb into the top-10.
