World Golf Final criticism unjust

After playing six continuous weeks in Japan, I am finally back on the European Tour and starting what should be a very important run of events towards the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. This week we are at Lake Malaren in Shanghai for the inaugural BMW Masters. With a limited field of 78 players, including world No.1 Rory McIlroy, No.3 Luke Donald, No.4 Lee Westwood and No.5 Justin Rose, this is without doubt one of the strongest fields on the European Tour for some time. As some of you will surely remember, this was an exhibition event last year with McIlroy walking away with the top cheque of $2 million after a sensational display over the four days. Which brings me to the Turkish Airlines World Golf Finals in Antalya a few days ago. It was a non-recognised event restricted to eight top players, including McIlroy and Tiger Woods, and offered a prize purse of $5.2 million. The tournament received more than its fair share of criticism, with quite a few critics pointing out that the event did nothing to develop the game in Turkey, and they accused Woods and McIlroy of ‘cash grabbing’. If you ask me, it was a super success and it more than achieved its objective of putting Turkey on the golfing map of the world. I saw pictures from the tournament in Japanese newspapers, and I am sure it received media coverage worldwide. It was great for the fans because it not only put Woods and McIlroy together, it managed do something more — it had them together in a head-to-head clash. That’s something that did not happen in the Ryder Cup and the chances are slim it will happen ever again, unless and until it is an exhibition match like the one which is going to take place in Lake Jinsha in China in a few days’ time. From a player’s perspective, I have been on record stating how much each of us owe someone like Woods for the prize purse that we play for nowadays. I consider myself fortunate that I play the game in the Woods era. It is a proven fact that professional golf becoming lucrative is directly linked to his rise. And McIlroy has the potential to become the next Woods. Just look at how the World Golf Finals has become beneficial for other players. Starting next year, it will evolve into the Turkish Open, which becomes the penultimate event on the European Tour and offers a $7 million prize fund. The same happened this season with last year’s Lake Malaren Classic. It is now part of the European Tour. My aim is to finish inside the top-15 of the Race to Dubai this season and make it to the top 50 of the world. That should give me starts in most of the Majors and the WGC events next year and sort out quite a few things schedule-wise. Let’s see how these next five weeks pan out for me. — Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour From : Gulf News