Tiger Sounding Non-Committal (At Best) On Euro Tour Membership

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From today's presser to announce the field and new sponsor for the year-end World Challenge at Sherwood.

Q.  Wondering what your thoughts are on ‑‑ you mentioned before that you might be joining the European Tour a few weeks back.  I want to know what that would mean if you chose to do that.

TIGER WOODS:  Well, they asked me the question whether or not I would entertain it, and I said, yeah, I entertained it early on in my career, there's no doubt, because at the time there was only 11 events, and I believe it was eight cross‑overs, and I played once or twice in Europe, and that put me at nine or ten ‑‑ usually at 10 because I played in Asia and I played as well in Germany for all those years.  So I was only one event away.

Now it's at 13.  13 is a little bit more difficult to get to, but that's one of the reasons why I think they implemented the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup as events that count towards that number.  I certainly can see the benefits and also see the negatives of playing that much golf.  But going forward, I don't know.

Chubby: Turkey Final A Model For Others

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Dermot Gilreese assesses the Turkey Final cash grab that so enriched the lives of eight men last week. The primary organizer explains how it could be a model for future events.

Meanwhile, the money flows. And given his success in attracting such leading names to last week's enterprise, Chubby Chandler of International Sports Management believes it could work in other countries as a promotional vehicle. Indeed as an early by-product, it is hoped that several of last week's octet will return to compete in the Turkish Open in 13 months. As Chandler put it: "I've already established that it's a free week for Tiger."

And Chandler explains how he insured that there were no last minute WD's:

Even with attractive figures being thrown around, it seems that good faith is crucial to the success of these ventures. Which explains why Chandler made sure that $150,000 -- half the minimum guaranteed prize money -- would be lodged to each player's bank account on September 1 of this year -- almost six weeks before the event. "As a gesture, I felt it appropriate to assure them that they were going to be paid," he said.

So much classier than a brown paper bag full of cash or chips to the casino!

Headbutting Turk Official Serves Up Fantastic Futbol Analogy

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From Phil Casey's Independent story on the first tee skirmish that livened up the Turkey Final and led to Turkish Golf Federation Head and Stevie Williams wannabe Ahmet Agaoglu serving up this explanation.

But give the man credit, he's doing his part to put the incident to bed.

"I was there explaining this is not like other sports - while Messi is going to take a penalty you cannot go into the six-yard area to take a picture - and while saying this there was a reaction saying 'You cannot push us back, you cannot shout at us'.

"I was being pushed by one of them and pushed them back as well, the poor guy (local journalist Cihat Unal) was in the wrong place in the wrong time.

"While organising such tournaments I shouldn't have to be there, but I am trying to make everything so perfect. It was unlucky it happened and I will given a written apology because one way or another it was not nice.

"He stumbled back and I was almost going to fall over him."

Why Tiger Joining The European Tour Would Have An Impact

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I saw the news out of the Turkey Final about Tiger suggesting he might take up European Tour membership if the rules are changed to include the various Cups as appearances. And I yawned, then moved right along.

But Bob Harig explains that such a membership requirement change, coupled with a few other factor$, makes the scenario increasingly likely and would certainly mean fewer appearances in the U.S. Perhaps as many as 3-4 events shaved off his PGA Tour schedule.

Because he is formalizing an endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines, it would make sense that Woods add a new Turkish European Tour event to his schedule -- which will be played in November 2013, just a week prior to the season-ending Dubai World Championship.

So four majors, four WGCs, Abu Dhabi (or something similar early in the year), Ryder Cup/Presidents Cup, Turkey and the season-ending Dubai event would bring the total to 12. He could, possibly, add the European Tour event in China prior to the WGC; or he could play another event around the time of Abu Dhabi during the tour's Gulf Coast Swing.