"Beating the Yanks is nice, but it pales in significance to pound, euro and dollar signs."

John Huggan helps us understand the politics at play for the European Ryder Cup squad. Though I still don't know how it explains Padraig Harrington's selection after making two non-WGC European Tour appearances this year.

For the European Tour -- whose budget for the next four years will largely be predicated on the financial success or failure of the upcoming contest -- that is all-important, even more than ultimate victory. Beating the Yanks is nice, but it pales in significance to pound, euro and dollar signs.

So, as much as possible, tournament sponsors must be satisfied with the level of participation by the tour's star names. And anything (such as the lure of Ryder Cup points) that encourages more of those luminaries to play more of their golf in European Tour-sanctioned events is part of the tour's overall business model. That's also why executive director George O'Grady turns an Admiral Nelson-like blind eye to the ongoing abuse of his own rule forbidding the payment of appearance money to his members or invited guests.

The allocation of five Ryder Cup places to those qualifying from the so-called "European points list" as opposed to four from the "World Ranking list" is another part of the same plan, one that hopes to see the likes of Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Justin Rose spending more time with their own families than with Uncle Sam's nieces and nephews.

"Why else would the Ryder Cup, one of the biggest events in golf and sports in general, be missing from the West Coast since 1959?"

Larry Bohannan fires off a nice rant about the PGA of America's disdain for the western United States when it comes to selecting PGA and Ryder Cup venues.

We can all scream about an East Coast bias from an organization that is based in Florida. We can scream about making an event better for television times in Europe event even if the event is being played in the United States. But none of that is a reasonable explanation for why the PGA of America has abandoned the West Coast. Or why the Ryder Cup can’t possible come back to the West Coast before 2022.

The next three Ryder Cups in the U.S. have already been awarded to courses in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. It’s as if the PGA considers the West Coast to still be unsettled, or that maybe we out west are not part of the United States. I’m pretty sure California joined the union back in 1850, which seems like the last time the Ryder Cup was played in the state.

TIGER WOODS: "He's coaching me (smiling)."

Tiger sounded a little touchy about the Sean Foley relationship status. As if the writers didn't see their Facebook status shifting from "It's complicated" to, "In a teaching relationship."

Q. How long do you think the process of modification will take?

TIGER WOODS: Well, we'll see. It's progress. I'm making progress, I'm making steps, and just got to keep heading in the right direction.

Q. Just a quick follow-up, how different is the concept versus what Hank teaches and what Butch teaches?

TIGER WOODS: Very different.

Q. Just to clarify, how would you characterize your relationship with Sean, your working relationship?

TIGER WOODS: We're working on it.

Q. Is he your coach?

TIGER WOODS: He's coaching me (smiling).

Q. Are you paying him?

TIGER WOODS: That's none of your business.

Q. How formal, I guess, is the question.

TIGER WOODS: Well, it's none of your business, first of all.

Steve Elling was with Foley when his cell phone exploded on the news and has some new information on how the two met how the two started working together.

He stood on the driving range at Cog Hill, looking down at the screen on the device, quizzically thumbing through the assault of e-mails and text messages that began bouncing off satellites and into the contraption.

"What's this all about?" he said.

As ever, it's all about Eldrick.

Moments earlier, in his own inimitably paranoid fashion, world No. 1 Tiger Woods confirmed he has formally forged a work relationship with Foley, who coaches a half-dozen other PGA Tour players, and the news precipitated the flurry of inquiries that will soon make him the most famous Canuck in the States since Dudley Do-Right.

"I have my doubts about how he will fit in on the team this year."

Peter Oosterhuis, talking about Tiger's inclusion on this year's Ryder Cup squad.

"He should be leading the team and inspiring the team. They should be saying 'I've got Tiger on my Ryder Cup team, we're going to demolish the opposition,' and that hasn't happened."

Oosterhuis went on to say that the effect Tiger could have on the side would damage, rather than help, his teammates.

Woods has underperformed in previous Ryder Cup tournaments despite huge success on the PGA Tour.

"It is not so much about how he will play, it's the affect he will have on the team," Oosterhuis said.

"I don't think he's going to help the team. I think he's just going to muddy the waters and cause problems that they don't need.

"They need to be thinking about golf and saying 'Hey, we're a team, we're playing together and we want to beat the opposition and let's not have any static on the side."