BERNARD GALLACHER’S GOLF

Rory has put the cat in among the pigeons on the European Tour

The final week of the European Tour season should be all about celebrating the golf that has been played in the last 12 months.

Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood deserve the headlines for their play as they decide the outcome of the Race to Dubai this morning.

But happenings in and around the event have highlighted again the challenges the Tour faces.

World No.1 Justin Rose was lying third in the Race to Dubai standings before this event, but he chose to take the week off.

The jackpot of winning here – like he did with the FedEx Cup in America in September – had practically gone, so for him it had become like any other event.

Can you imagine anybody on the PGA Tour skipping the Tour Championship? No.

But then again, when only 30 people can qualify, there is a sense of achievement to make the field. That is not the same when it’s the top 60.

What may seem strange to people is that Justin still has two more tournaments to play before the year ends.

Sure, he will be at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas – but he lives there. Then he flies off to the Indonesian Masters, where he is defending his title.

It just underlines what an international schedule our leading players have nowadays.

If that news was disappointing, Rory McIlroy put the cat among the pigeons when he revealed that he might only play two European Tour events in 2019.

Rory is desperate to get back in the winner’s circle in the Majors and he thinks the best way to do that is to concentrate his efforts on the PGA Tour.

With the new schedule in place, and the FedEx Cup finishing at the end of August, Rory was typically honest when he said that, outside of The Open at Royal Portrush, he will only play in the Scottish Open in July and then in Switzerland the following month.

We have to face up to the scenario that many of our 12 to 15 leading players will probably be in the same position.

If Rory didn’t play any further events, he would lose his membership and his right to be Ryder Cup captain in the future.

That rule was introduced in 2017, and I don’t like it. It’s too much of a veiled threat in my book. Rory has to do what is right for his golf now, not worry about a job in years to come.

But I would be astonished if he did not find the two extra tournaments he would need to keep his playing privileges.

Reading between the lines, Rory is fishing for offers. If an event is persuasive enough, then he will find a reason to play.

It’s a dirty word, but appearance money has always been a big factor on the European Tour. It has always made getting all our best players to the same event virtually impossible.

That was the case with Seve Ballesteros, Sir Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam. It’s no different now.

Whatever we try, we must realise we will always be second to the PGA Tour.

Golf in America is too lucrative, too important and for all the players, almost too good to be true.