FAIR PLAY to the tour commissioner. Whether he felt at the start of the season that the turmoil in the financial markets might make the US Bank Championship non-existent come July, or whether he couldn't stand the thought of someone like Kenny Perry taking €100,000 of Golf Masters cash for winning a fifth-rate tournament, he ultimately decided that our only counting event in week 15 would be the British Open.

Perry made it his goal for the season to get a place on the US Ryder Cup team and decided that the best way to do this was to skip a couple of majors and to try to win a few of the minors.

Now that's a bit like taking an underarm serve in tennis. It might actually sneak you a point, but afterwards can you actually look your opponent in the eye or yourself in the mirror?

Are you, in short, a wuss?

And what is Perry's message to his 479 Golf Masters employers, including the 80 who recruited him last week?

"Yes, I'm playing the golf of my life and there's double money on offer at Birkdale, but I'm not that interested in winning a major."

The American Ryder Cup system awards half-a-point for every $1,000 won at the US Bank and two points for every $1,000 won at the British Open.

In effect, it equates a win in Milwaukee with a fifth-place finish at Birkdale.

If the system followed our commissioner's example and ignored events running opposite majors, Perry's attitude might quickly change and the Americans might fare better in the Ryder Cup.

golfmasters@irish-times.ie