11/06/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The European Tour kicked off its 2009 season this week, and thus began the inaugural Race to Dubai.
The PGA Tour has the FedEx Cup, and now the European Tour has responded with the Race to Dubai. The Race uses the same formula as the FedEx Cup, with players being ranked according to their earnings for all 2009 European Tour events.
The Race will culminate with the $10 million Dubai World Championship, which includes the top 60 players in the Race. Along with the $10 million purse for that season-ending event, the top 15 players will split a bonus pool of another $10 million.
With that amount of money on the line, one wonders how many players will consider playing full-time on both the PGA and European Tours.
Top players on the European Tour such as Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose and Lee Westwood already compete regularly on the PGA Tour, and other Tour regulars figure to start crossing the pond as well. Anthony Kim, who played in 22 PGA Tour events in 2008, has already committed to playing full-time on both tours for the '09 season.
Players like Kim will be aided in playing full schedules on both tours by the four major championships and three World Golf Championship events. Those seven tournaments count towards both tours, and would get players nearly halfway to the 15 events needed to be a full-time PGA Tour or European Tour player.
In 2008, Kim played five European Tour events including one regular tour event, one World Golf Championship event and three majors. He is eligible for all four majors next year as well as the three World Golf Championship events, and will therefore need to squeeze in seven regular season events to reach the 15 tournament minimum after this week.
Kim and Phil Mickelson, who has decided against joining the European Tour this season but may in the future, are in China this week to kick off the tour's 2009 campaign with the HSBC Champions.
Though he has not set his schedule yet, there are four more European Tour events this year that Kim could play in.
Other PGA Tour regulars that could play both tours on a regular basis include Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley and Tim Clark. All three have won on the European Tour in the past.
I don't think as many PGA Tour players will go to Europe compared to the amount of European players that come to the U.S., with money ranking as the primary factor. Robert Karlsson just wrapped up the 2008 Order of Merit title on the European Tour with $3,473,000. A pretty impressive total, but if he played on the PGA Tour that number would put him only 11th on the money list.
TIGER POSTS MOST WINS AGAIN
Though he played in just six events this season, Tiger Woods will end the '08 with the most wins on the PGA Tour.
Woods won four times in those six starts. The four wins marks the fewest in a single season for Tiger since the 2004 season, the year he was going through swing changes.
The four wins marks the fewest wins by a wins leader since 1998, when David Duval won four times.
Woods has won fewer than four titles in a season three times. Once was the aforementioned '04 campaign, and the others were in 1998 and 1996. In '96, he turned professional halfway through the season.
Despite only playing in six events, Woods increased his winning percentage with his four '08 titles. Throughout his career, Woods has won just under 29% of his starts.
The winning percentage of the next four active wins leaders -- Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III and Ernie Els -- does not combine to equal Woods' winning percentage.
Mickelson and Singh both own 34 PGA Tour wins. Mickelson wins 8.85% of his starts, Singh is at 8.43%, Els owns 16 PGA Tour wins and has won 6.13% of his starts, while Love has won 19 times or 4.2% of his starts.
MINI-TIDBITS
- The European Tour will have two Player of the Year awards starting with the 2009 season. One award will come from golf writers, broadcasters and European Tour officials as it has since 1985. The other award will be selected by a players vote.
- Retief Goosen snapped a 50-event winless streak last week when he won on the Asian Tour. However, his last PGA Tour win was at the 2005 International. His last victory on the European Tour was the at 2007 Qatar Masters, which took place on the final weekend of January.
<< United's Ferguson charged with improper conduct
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson
has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association.
The charge relates to the veteran manager's behavior at the end of last
weekend's 4-3
<< U.S. women settle for tie against South Korea
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - United States goalkeepers Nicole Barnhart and
Briana Scurry combined to shutout Korea Republic on Wednesday, helping the U.S.
post a 0-0 tie at Paul Brown Stadium.
The draw was just the third time this year
<< Crew's Marshall named Defender of the Year
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Columbus defender Chad Marshall was named Major
League Soccer's Defender of the Year on Thursday, becoming just the second Crew
player to win the award.
Marshall, 24, returned from an injury-plagued 2007 seas
<< Wild continue swing in Colorado
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild hope for a better defensive effort
tonight, when they continue their four-game road trip with a stop in Colorado
to take on the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.
The Wild are currently fourth in the league
Iguodala's flailing in Philly >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Early returns are not necessarily a
harbinger of the future.
If they were, John Kerry would have been running for reelection on Tuesday and
John McCain would have cried uncle two months ago.
So, we all
Jankovic, Venus land in Championships semis >>
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and
former top-ranked star Venus Williams of the United States were a pair of
round-robin winners Thursday at the season-ending $4.55 million Sony Ericsson
Championships
Oilers D Grebeshkov placed on IR >>
Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday placed
defenseman Denis Grebeshkov on injured reserve, retroactive to November 1.
The fourth-year pro has missed the Oilers' last two games, in Philadelphia and
Columbus
Bordeaux's Chamakh eyes future in England >>
Bordeaux, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bordeaux's Moroccan striker Marouane
Chamakh has admitted that he would like to try his luck in England in the
future.
The 24-year-old is out of contract with the French club at the end o
Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year
Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.
Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.
With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.
Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.
Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.
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