Why Pay Rory to Appear...

...when no one appears to see Rory? Good question, right? Well, I ask it because Rory Sabbatinni is received a yet undisclosed, fairly large appearance fee to play in the Australian Masters. And the Aussie pros are NOT happy about that. Since Rory is such an unpopular player amongst the pros (and fans), they are flabberghasted that he would receive a large sum just to appear.

There are many unhappy Aussies ... it's all about Rory. We all know (Sabbatini) personally and we know he's not worth 200K," Paul Gow told Sydney radio station 2KY. "You could see some of the better name Australian players not playing . . . a limited boycott."

[Robert] Allenby informed the Coolum event organisers today that he was pulling out of the tournament, which he has won three times in the past seven years.

Apparently, tournament organizer Tony Roosenburg does not get it.

It sounds to me like a personal vendetta against Rory Sabbatini. What's wrong with him? He's never been to Australia. Is that normally a good thing (for a tournament)?

That's a loaded question. Anyone care to take this one for me? Anyway, he continues the whining:

We are the only tournament in Australia that's got two players in the top 10. Isn't that something to celebrate? We do everything to do the right thing by Australian golf and we get criticised for getting the No.8 in the world. I've never heard anything like it. Tell me what we've done wrong? It is heartbreaking for us to get criticised by the players. I would like to get a compliment for it instead of being criticised.

Regardless of Rory's playing merits, seems like Roosenburg is a little clueless for a guy that should know about golfers - even if Sabbatini has never been to Australia.