ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Tiger Woods acknowledged Tuesday that being paid an appearance fee played a significant role in deciding to open his 2012 season in the Middle East instead of California, where he had traditionally started his golf year.
Woods, who has played in Dubai on six occasions, is making his debut at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which begins Thursday at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.
The tournament purse of $2.7 million is less than half of what is being offered this week on the PGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, but only slightly more than what Woods is believed to be receiving just for showing up here, 12 time zones away.
Asked if the payment of appearance fees influences his scheduling decisions, Woods said, “I’d have to say yes, it certainly does. That’s one of the reasons why a lot of the guys who play in Europe, they do play in Europe, and they do get paid. I think the only tour that doesn’t pay is the U.S. Tour.”
The PGA Tour prohibits the payment of appearance fees. While the subject is not officially discussed among European Tour officials, it is a widely accepted practice. It is perhaps the biggest reason this tournament has attracted the best field of the year to date.
Woods will play the first two rounds in Abu Dhabi with world No. 1 Luke Donald and No. 3 Rory McIlroy. The pairing will start at 7:40 a.m. local time Thursday (10:40 p.m. ET on Wednesday night ET) and at 12:05 p.m. local time Friday (3:05 a.m. ET.)
In addition to Donald, McIlroy and Woods, who is ranked 25th in the world, the tournament has each of the top four players in the Official World Golf Ranking — No. 2 Lee Westwood and defending champion Martin Kaymer (No. 4). In all, six of the top 10 and 11 of the top 25 are in the field.
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