ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – According to practice-tee buzz Tiger Woods, is earning between $1.7 million and $2.7 million in appearance fees to play this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, although he declined to give an exact figure when asked on Tuesday.
He did, however, address what is a fundamental distinction between the PGA Tour and the world’s other circuits. When asked if an appearance fee ever influenced his scheduling, Woods said, “It certainly does. That’s one of the reasons why a lot of the guys do play in Europe, they do get paid. . . . Only place we don’t get it is the U.S.”
But Woods did concede that it would be difficult to change the rule in the United States given how high purses are on the PGA Tour relative to other circuits. “Where we offset it is our prize money is pretty high,” he said. “We have an availability to play for more money.”
You can watch complete coverage of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship live Wednesday on Golf Channel from 10PM-3:30AM ET and Thursday-Sunday on from 4-8AM ET.
