If Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour in the United States, did not realise that he had a fight on his hands with his leading players, he was left in little doubt last night when Tiger Woods and Ernie Els fired a broadside in his direction over the make-up of his lucrative new baby, the FedEx Cup.

The competition was expected to get the world’s best players competing against each other for the richest prize in sport – a $10 million (about £5 million) bonus – in four “play-off” tournaments at the season’s end.

Why then, with two of the tournaments played and a third, the BMW Championship, getting under way here at Cog Hill today, have Woods, Els, Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington chosen to skip at least one of the events? The competition reaches a climax next week, when the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings head for Atlanta for the Tour Championship.

It might have been thought that none could afford to sit out any of the events for fear of falling too far behind in a points chase – a premise that would have helped to bring in FedEx as sponsor, as well as Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BMW and Coca-Cola to bankroll the individual tournaments.

Woods, to the tour’s chagrin, missed the first, citing fatigue, Els sat out the second and Mickelson, who leads the race after going head-to-head with Woods in Boston, Massachusetts, on Monday and winning the Deutsche Bank Championship by two strokes, has chosen to stay at home, saying that his concerns have not been considered. Harrington, the Open champion, said that he needs rest.

The players are griping on two fronts. First, they feel that the season has become too condensed, not allowing them time to rest. But they are equally annoyed that the bonuses (everybody who qualified for the play-offs gets something) will be deferred until they retire, or reach 45.

“It is an issue,” Woods said yesterday. “A lot of players were not aware of it and I think one of the major issues is that it’s not a true payout.”

For his part, Woods said that he would like to see the money “stacked up” on the 1st tee in Atlanta. “That would create a buzz,” he added.

Els was equally scathing, accusing PGA Tour officials of ignoring the players’ concerns about the cluttered end to the season. “They did not express anything to the players,” he said.

“They asked questions, but they didn’t come out and say, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do. What do you think?’ We are in this position now because they either didn’t listen or just went on with the decision. We’ve grown apart, especially the players and the commissioner’s office.”

In defence, Finchem said: “I feel we did a good job in reaching out to players with details. What we have discovered in the past six months is that a number of them didn’t pay attention.”