Why the European Tour is Second Best

It's simple. Money.

At last week's Africa Open, the winner took home €158,500...in USD that's only $210,638.

The winner of the Sony Open just the next week took home $990,000.

Now, if you had the game where would you be playing?

But there's more to this: Because of their amazing endorsement deals, Euros like Rory and Luke Donald can show their loyalty to the Euro Tour and still cash in over the course of the season.

Of course, it can play the other way since players like El Tigre & John Daly can make the Euro Tour's comparatively feeble money work for them because of the nice appearance fees they command.

If you take out the top five Euros, the Euro Tour's depth would be pretty much like the Nationwide Tour's. And, if you go down about 5 spots in the money, the 5th place check in a Euro Tour Event is just about the same as the winner's check on the Nationwide.

Actually, 5th on the Euro Tour will usually be quite a bit less...

Take away endorsement money and there'd be nothing left of the Euro Tour because all the players who could would be over here playing the US Tour full time. I'm sure some will do the knee-jerk thing and see this as a typical Euro Bash. It's really not. I actually like the top tier Euros better than most of the top tier players in the US. For me, they have a tad more style, for lack of a better word. It's just their home tour that sucks.

As is so often the case, just follow the money.