Reuters
Tuesday, November 7

JEREZ, Spain -- Colin Montgomerie, Europe's No. 1 golfer the past seven seasons, said Sunday he understands the decision of 12 U.S.-based players to stay away from the $5 million American Express Championship event that starts Thursday at Valderrama.

David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Tom Lehman, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Paul Azinger, Hal Sutton, Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Notah Begay III, John Huston and Australian Greg Norman have all decided against playing.

	Staying home
	Players who have said they will not play in the American Express Championship, listed with their World Ranking: 3. David Duval 4. Phil Mickelson 7. Hal Sutton 11. Tom Lehman 15. Jim Furyk 19. Stewart Cink 20. John Huston 22. Loren Roberts 31. Paul Azinger 32. Notah Begay III 38. Fred Couples 41. Greg Norman

Mickelson was the latest to join that list, opting not to go to Spain after winning The Tour Championship on Sunday and securing the No. 2 spot on the PGA Tour money list.

Montgomerie said the decision of the players was a blow for the series, which had been designed to export the sport and its best players across the world.

"It seems to be the top players (who are staying away)," he said, arguing that their attitude was understandable because the prize money, while a major attraction for Europe's players, was not spectacular in American terms.

"They are playing for $1 million first prize in Las Vegas, The Tour Championship ... you know, they are playing for that every week now," he said.

"It seems to be just another tournament for them and they are having to travel an awful long way for it. That's the strength of the U.S. Tour ... it is hurting international and world golf."

Montgomerie said the weak team fielded by the United States in the Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews in October was another sign of the same trend.

Increasing prize money, he said, was not necessarily the answer because it did not seem to matter to the top American players.

But he was full of praise for world No. 1 Tiger Woods.

"All credit to Tiger. He does travel. In the next month he's on four different continents," he said.

The World Golf Championship series, which includes match play, stroke play and team formats, was launched in 1999 and extended from three tournaments to four this year.

The American Express Championship was meant to assemble the top 50 players in the world, with the top 30 from the U.S. money list represented as well as Europe's 20 highest-ranked players and the leading performers from the tours in Australia, South Africa and Asia.

Darren Clarke won the match-play event in Carlsbad, Calif., in February, beating Woods in the final. Woods won the second tournament, in Akron, Ohio, in August. He also won two out of the three tournaments staged in 1999.

After Valderrama, the 2000 series concludes with a team World Cup event in Buenos Aires in December.