There was much angst and twisting of hands when Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour in the United States, announced in 2006 that from the following year all the World Golf Championships events would be held in America. His message to his partners around the world was a stark one, effectively: We've raised the money, so we'll decide where they are held.

So much for the stated aim of the so-called Federation of PGA Tours to spread the game around the world. It was a criticism that Finchem brushed aside by suggesting that the important thing was to get the game's best players together in one place and then to showcase them globally through television. And as spin goes, that was right up there with the fizz created by a Phil Mickelson flop shot.

This was a case of money talking. And if events unfolding at the HSBC Championship in Shanghai this week are anything to go by, then the money is beginning to talk louder than ever on this side of the pond. The tournament heralds the start of the European Tour's lucrative new baby, the Race to Dubai, and yesterday George O'Grady, Finchem's counterpart in Europe, confirmed that discussions were afoot to turn "Asia's Major" into a fourth WGC event.

And, were it to happen, would the European Tour be the leading partner, O'Grady was asked? It was not with glee that he answered, but his words said it all. "He who pays the piper calls the tune," he said. It was not so much cocking-a-snook at Finchem (well, not much) but it confirmed that O'Grady's tour is in rude health at a time when the PGA Tour will be looking anxiously at the contracts it holds with finance houses and motor manufacturers at a time of financial turmoil.

With Leisurecorp, a Dubai-based company, guaranteeing around $170 million to the European Tour over the next five years, the Race to Dubai has suddenly caught the attention of players of the ilk of Phil Mickelson, Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim, Trevor Immelman and Geoff Ogilvy. Mickelson is seriously considering joining the tour in the future, while all of the others have already done so. The danger for the PGA Tour is that some of their own events will become diminished at times when such stars are playing away from home. And this, in turn, will not please the sponsors or the broadcasters. The timing, particularly in the continued absence of a recuperating Tiger Woods, could not be worse.

The pot of gold at the season-ending Dubai World Championship is eye-watering. The leading 60 players will play for a prize fund of $10m, with the top 15 in the final standings sharing another $10m. A player winning the tournament and finishing as the season's No 1 will pick up a staggering $3.6m and might only have played 12 events, the minimum required for membership of the tour.

Mickelson, meanwhile, has caught on to the fact that by becoming a global player he can increase his income considerably. Not only can he command hefty appearance fees for playing in places like Shanghai and Singapore, but he will also be keeping his sponsors happy. "The biggest areas of growth are not in the United States," the world No 2 said this week, "but internationally."

Some will talk about the desire to experience new cultures and to play around the world. Others, like Ogilvy, the Australian former US Open champion, is more up-front. "I'm not going to say that the big money at the end of the season wasn't part of the decision to rejoin the tour," he said. "We're professional golfers and we play for money."

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As a new era begins for European golf, it is a shame that the old one finished on a sour note at the 21st and final Volvo Masters, at Valderrama, last weekend.

Players were left fuming when officials misjudged the ferocity of an oncoming storm on the second day and chose before the start of play not to let them clean and place balls on the fairways. When the rain duly arrived, the course soon became waterlogged and play was eventually suspended for the day - with the leaders still waiting to tee off - and the knock-on effects were catastrophic.

"We had unplayable conditions on the Friday, balls caked in mud, no play for three to four hours on Saturday while a re-draw was done, unfinished play on the third day, no practice balls at start of the day on Sunday; a locked locker room with the clubs stuck inside and the fringes of greens waterlogged," one player said. "I wouldn't mind quite so much if the officials hadn't been so relaxed about the whole thing. That's my world ranking they are playing with and I take it seriously."