As a rule of thumb, if you have cause to wonder why any of the world’s leading players have turned up in far-flung places, work on the principle that they have been lured there with heaps of cash.

Ernie Els put it honestly and succinctly. “The end of the year is when you get the wheelbarrow out,” he said. “You have got to cash in.” The fact that the South African chose to miss the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama, in Spain – and thus sacrificed his chance of finishing top of the European Tour’s Order of Merit – to play at the Singapore Open was a case in point. One report suggested that he had received up to £500,000 for his services.

He was criticised by Colin Montgomerie, who regarded Els’s disdain for the Order of Merit as a slight on his own sense of achievement in winning it eight times, seven in a row from 1993. The problem arose because of a clash of dates, but the Scot said: “Deals could have been done where they [Els and others in a similar situation] played two out of the next three years [in Singapore], or something like that. It [the Volvo Masters] should be the priority.”

Els, who is in the middle of a three-year contract with Barclays, hit back. “He [Montgomerie] didn’t get in [to play in Singapore], so now he’s shooting his mouth off,” he said.

All of which was pretty tacky. Outside the major championships and the Ryder Cup, little appears to motivate the modern player more than money. Sponsors, equipment suppliers and tournament organisers are throwing cash at them.

Next week, the European Tour is expected to announce that, from 2009, it will hold an end-of-season, limited-field event in Dubai that will carry record prize-money approaching $10 million (about £4.9 million), with a similar sum to be handed out in bonuses. It will be the European Tour’s answer to the FedEx Cup series in the United States, which pays a $10 million deferred bonus to the winner, with smaller sums going to the rest. From next year, after complaints from the players that they would prefer the money in their hands, $9 million will be paid in cash to the winner, with $1 million placed in a retirement fund.

But that is the mainstream. From the end of October until mid-December, there will have been tournaments in Morocco, Singapore, China, Japan, South Africa and the United States, offering either appearance fees or guaranteed prize-money and all involving some of the sport’s most recognisable faces.

This year, Phil Mickelson – usually a reluctant traveller – made a rare foray outside the United States. In two weeks, the American played in Singapore and Shanghai and would have pocketed a couple of million of Barclays’ and HSBC’s dollars just for turning up. Padraig Harrington is another who is able to cash in on his celebrity. The Open champion says that he needs to cut down on his schedule, but by the time he finishes the year at Tiger Woods’s Target World Challenge next month, he will, from the end of October, have played in five events around the world, starting with the Hassan II Trophy in Morocco.

A pro-am event, the Moroccan tournament included only 24 professionals – all handsomely rewarded – with Harrington going on to scoop the $150,000 first prize. Also on the agenda is his defence of the Dunlop Phoenix Open title in Japan this weekend, in which he was joint-leader after two rounds, followed by the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City a week on Thursday.

The South African event has a limited field of 12 players and pays out a staggering $1.2 million to the winner, with the player finishing last picking up $200,000. That is not bad for less than a week’s work. Montgomerie is only one of those who has lined his pockets at Sun City in recent years. The champion in 1996 – for which he won $1 million and kept the oversized cheque prominently displayed in his garage at home – played ten times between 1994 and 2006 and banked $2.48 million in the process.

It is not without its irony that golfers complain about playing schedules that are too long. Do not expect them, however, to cut back on the extracurricular activity away from the main tours. They must, however, continue to do well in the biggest tournaments to maintain their profiles and their world rankings. In simple terms, the better they do, the greater their market value. And who can blame them for taking advantage?