The European Tour Final Series gets under way.....in China!

Post by Sports Writer, Derek, Clements

The European Tour's 'Final Series' got under way in China. It will conclude with the Dubai World Championship in...erm, Dubai! The top 60 in the Race to Dubai qualify to play in the Final Series, which began after the regular season ended in Perth with the top 111 players retaining their playing privileges. That would be Perth, Australia, of course, that well-known European country.

So does anybody else find one or two things rather odd about all of this.

1) They are playing in China, which is as European as is Australia;;
2) Kevin Stadler, Ryan Palmer and Chris Kirk are in the field - all PGA Tour golfers, appearing on special invitations;
3) The top 60 in the Race to Dubai are joined by 18 other golfers in this tournament, which has no cut - several of them are Chinese players, one of whom trailed the field by six shots after two rounds;
4) If you are going to throw logic out the window, why restrict the field to 78?

The PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Series has been heavily criticised, but at least everybody knows where they stand. In the first of the playoff events, 125 players take part - the 125 players who fill the top 125 places in the rankings. In the second event, the field is whittled down to the top 100, by the third it is the top 70 and when they come to the final event, the top 30 compete for much gold.

What would happen to the carefully laid plans of the European Tour if one of the invitees, having not played on the tour throughout the year, was to win the BMW Masters? You can be sure of one thing - the man who finished in 61st place in the Race to Dubai would NOT be a happy bunny. This is meant to be the climax of the EUROPEAN Tour and should surely only feature members of that tour. I can just about get my head around the fact that we have to take the tour to other parts of the world - sponsorship demands it. But allowing hapless local golfers to take part in supposedly prestigious events is simply ludicrous.

Tell me please what the Chinese golfer Tianyi Wu could posibily have learnt from opening with rounds of 76 and 83, knowing that he still faced the ordeal of playing two more rounds in the BMW Masters?

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour's 2015 season continued in Malaysia. I will say that again - the PGA Tour's 2015 season continued in Malaysia. Yes, you read that right both times.

The last time I looked, Malaysia was not in the United States. And when I checked my diary this morning, it was still 2014. One other thing should be noted - in Malaysia, it rains every day of the year. You can set your watch by it. Sure enough, it rained during the CMB Classic - in stair-rods. It meant the players had to flee the course.

They did manage to get the thing done, but presumably the field was restricted to 78 because the PGA Tour knew that a full field event didn't have a prayer of completing a 72-hole tournament in four days. There's that number again - 78.

Many of those who played in the McGladrey Classic the week before were in the field in Malaysia and were surely out on their feet. Spreading the word is all well and good - and that would be the reason that both tours would give for playing in China and Malaysia.

If Rory McIlroy was in the field in China, or Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler were in action in Malaysia, that argument might hold some water. But they were all missing, along with most of the world's other top players.

Derek Clements is a sports journalist with a particular passion for golf with over 12 years of experience covering golf and other sports including Chief Sub-Editor on the sports desk of The Sunday Times. To contact Derek email direct via [email protected]