A huge threat to the established order in world golf has arisen this week in Japan. A new World Tour, with funding of $200 million, and possibly the support of Rupert Murdoch, is being proposed, just four weeks after the five major tours simultaneously announced their version.
The organisers of the new tour claim to have 200 players who have signed supporting letters, including, from the European Tour, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Severiano Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Jesper Parnevik and Per-Ulrik Johansson. Others known to be interested are Greg Norman, who attempted to set up a World Tour of his own three years ago, Jack Nicklaus, and the current US Open champion Ernie Els.
A number of US Tour players are also known to be interested, including the winner three weeks ago of the Sarazen World Open, Mark Calcavecchia. David Duval, recent winner of three US tournaments on the trot, and Payne Stewart, twice a major champion, are also following events closely, as is Shigeki Maruyama, the promising Japanese player.
A tour featuring 40 events, each worth $3.5 million, is being offered to those who sign.
The new tour would follow the seasons, taking in venues in America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. But it is certain to face massive opposition from the present tours, just as it did three years ago to the week, when Norman floated his idea.
The bosses of the US and European Tours saw their jobs and their authority threatened, and in America the commissioner, Tim Finchem, reacted by telling his players that if they joined Norman's tour, they would be debarred from the US Tour. Most, even Nick Price and Fred Couples, who had given conditional support, backed off.
This time round the American Tour is in an even stronger position. Finchem has recently completed television negotiations which will raise average purse money to between $3-3.5 million. That will certainly satisfy the rank and file.
But for the top players, the ones who ultimately matter, this is not just about money. The likes of Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Norman have said repeatedly that the best players do not play each other often enough.
But yesterday Joe Collett, formerly manager of Ballesteros, and the man behind the new proposals, dismissed the World Golf Championships as "tokenism". "There is considerable player unrest on the European Tour at the placid acceptance of what is supposed to be a world tour, but isn't. It looks as if the other tours in the world are programming themselves to be satellite tours for the US Tour."
Collett has the support of several global companies - "Fortune 500 companies and wealthy individuals" - and sponsors who want their event to figure on any future world tour. Murdoch, who was involved in the Norman venture, is interested in being a broadcaster.
Collett said yesterday he had plans to involve 40 tournaments, most of which already exist. "We would create a brand new circuit. The Tour would be just another layer on top of the existing tournaments, a place for people to graduate to.
"It would succeed because of the strength of the fields. There is a gap after the major championships, at around the level of the Players Championship, in quality of field, and that is where we would want to position ourselves."
South African Retief Goosen shot a five-under-par 66 to take a one-shot lead in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament, in Miyazaki, Japan. Goosen had six birdies and one bogey to slip ahead of Gohei Sato and Hidemichi Tanaka.
Among a group on 68 are Jumbo Ozaki, who is attempting to win this event for the fourth successive year, Craig Parry and Fred Funk. Costantino Rocca is at level par, Darren Clarke birdied the last to be one-over.
