On the face of it, the notion that Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and other members of the USA’s Ryder Cup winning team want to join the European Tour can only be good for the game this side of the Atlantic.

Mickelson would undoubtedly help drive up attendances, at least in the short-term, while the likes of JB Holmes and Boo Weekley, two of America ’s heroes from Valhalla , would help add extra interest to the run-of-the-mill Tour event.

It is, of course, no coincidence that some of the top names from the PGA Tour are looking towards Europe just as the Race to Dubai replaces the old Order of Merit.

Instead of players’ winnings counting over the course of the season to the Merit title, instead a Fed-Ex Cup-style conclusion will conclude with the Dubai World Championship next year with players competing for a total prize-fund of £10.8m.

As it is for the players competing for this year’s Order of Merit title the sums involved are virtually meaningless in terms of their monetary value.

With millions already stashed safely in the bank, euros earned this season become merely a way to determine how successful a year it has been.

At the lower end of the scale it now takes somewhere in the region of a million dollars just for a player to retain his card for the following year in America and while the situation is nowhere near as formidable in Europe where last year England’s Lee Slattery retained his playing rights in 118 th place with just over €200,000, it will now start to catch up.

Mickelson, Singh as well as Australians Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion and Robert Allenby among others, are looking to play 11 events on the European Tour next year, as well as retaining their playing rights in America, to be eligible for the cash-fest in Dubai.

But no doubt they can all see the way the wind is blowing. In the States a good proportion of the tournaments are backed by financial institutions, where the appetite for pumping huge sums

into sports sponsorship is likely to diminish.

By contrast the big money coming into the European game derives from oil companies which, if anything, stand to make even more money in the current financial climax.

European Tour chief executive George O’Grady is coming under pressure to raise the number of events to qualify for Dubai from 11 to 13 from the European players. It’s a significant increase which, if it goes through, will dissuade the Americans, at least, from committing to a tough travel schedule.

That is self-interest from the European-based players but is designed to help sustain the careers of the rank and file members, not the elite.

If there is a sudden influx of players from the PGA Tour to European Tour events it will naturally mean more limited places for those at the lower reaches of the Order of Merit or who are starting their careers.

Ballyclare's Gareth Maybin, earned his place next year through the Challenge Tour as Michael Hoey did three years ago. Hoey failed to earn enough to retain his playing rights and Maybin will find it even tougher, probably having to win more prize-money from fewer events.

It takes around €200,000 to retain a European Tour card and although it sounds an impressive enough figure, not much is left over after expenses for travel to places like Qatar , Korea and China , accommodation and tournament entry fees are taken into account.

These aren’t the players who are likely to be ‘playing the richest shot in golf’ to quote Mr O’Grady.

In the end a compromise will probably be reached when the European Tour’s players committee, headed by Thomas Bjorn, meets later this week at St Andrews, raising the number of tournaments needed to qualify to 12 and the likelihood is that both Singh and Mickelson will both sign up.

“Obviously Phil is a wonderful golfer and a great ambassador for the game,” O’Grady said. “But all I can say right now is we have spoken at length about our plans.

“But my main interest is the guys who are already members of the Tour, the likes of Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harington. Having Phil in would be terrific but I prefer to talk about those things that have happened rather than those that might. Let us see.”