Thanks GA for putting that "6 tourneys" out there. !! I knew he had talked about how many extra tourneys it would add to his schedule but I couldn't find the article !!!

I can't blame those young stars for going after the big prize. And 6 more on their schedules will not be that big of a deal. Phil, I'm a little surprised at, but maybe he figures since Tiger won't be competing he'll have a better chance!!

Tiger is geared to the majors, and especially coming off rehab next year, it does not surprise me that he's not giving it a go. Should be an interesting watch!!

I would agree with all you have stated, except IMO I dont think Phil will take advantage of Tiger not being there !!!!!

The HSBC being played in east Europe this week counts as an event on their tour.

I see where Phil stated he may take another year to think about joining !!!!

Read that also, but off to a good start to Dubai.
Read that Kim got hurt horseback riding but doesn't seem to bother his golf.

Hope Kim keeps playing the way he has,,, no injuries needed now !!!!!

After weeks of speculation that he'd fall in line and join the European Tour, it wasn't enough for Phil Mickelson. The lefthander is in China for this week's HSBC Champions, which kicks off the 2009 European Tour season, so there's one tournament toward a membership, if he'd like. The majors, WGC stops, and his annual sojourn to the Scottish Open would give him nine, and if he plays in the French Open in June, as it's been reported, Mickelson has 10. It would be easy to find two more to make membership work, yet he said the other day it's not in his plans. "I'm not ready to commit to it," said Mickelson from China. It doesn't appear that Tiger Woods will sign on either, and it remains to be seen just how many other world-class players will fill out their 2009 schedules with as many as four or five European Tour tournaments to fulfill the minimum requirement.

Debate any number of candidates for golf story of the year, but when it comes to non-story of the year, it's a landslide. It's this ongoing saga of American PGA Tour members joining the European Tour. But there are laughable slices to the story, such as the one circulating out of Spain in which Sergio Garcia boasted that he had "recruited" Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim. Garcia supposedly explained the benefits of the European Tour to his colleagues from Colombia and the US, and pretty much sold them on it. Garcia an ambassador for the European Tour? What next, NFL linemen pushing yogurt and salads? With Garcia, we're talking about a guy who played as many times in Florida (four) as he did in Europe in 2008, a guy whose pure American PGA Tour events numbered 12 in 2008, twice as many as his pure European PGA Tour stops. Heck, he maintained European Tour membership thanks only to four major championships (three in the US), three World Golf Championships (all in the US), and three money grabs in Asia (China, Qatar, Dubai). We presume what Garcia loves about European Tour membership and what he preached to Villegas and Kim can be summed up in two words: "Appearance fees." That's the deciding factor that will get Villegas and Kim to play more European events, for sure, and it will attract guys such as Aussie Robert Allenby, who has cashed in beyond his wildest dreams in the US, even if he hasn't won in seven years.

The way his game is going,,, he better get that straight first !!!