As soon as it was announced that the HSBC Champions tournament would become a World Golf Championship, a lot of Americans that were suddenly eligible for the newly titled $7 million blockbuster groaned.  I'm sure of it.  There was no way in hell that they were hopping a plane - even a chartered jet - in early November to fly over to China for one week to play in a golf tournament. 

Not even with an open week in the PGA Tour's Fall Series, created by Bobby Ginn's gross negligence, would compel the top ranked Americans to head to China.  Why bother?  $7 million isn't that big of a purse.  I would love to go to China since I'm a travel geek, but can undertand why professionals don't want to take the sticks.  Even if their presence helps to grow the game, that intangible good that they may do for the sport doesn't make the proposition worth it to them.

That's why only 14 of 23 Americans that were eligible for the HSBC Champions are in it this week with a field featuring 15 of the world's top 20 ranked players.

To be fair, several players had very little notice that they had qualified for the tournament.  Guys like Troy Matteson, Bo Van Pelt, and Matt Kuchar made the field in the absolute last qualification category.  The category?  Basically, "guys that won a pretty good event between December 2007 and last week in order to fill out the field."

Some guys were just plain fried.  Anthony Kim is playing this week in China for a free shot at a $7 million purse, but turning down a free shot at a $15 million purse at the Dubai World Championship.  He's tired and didn't schedule like a global jetsetter. 

Americans are not used to scheduling many trips outside of the United States.  There really has been no need.  Until the advent of big money events like the Singapore Open and this HSBC Champions event, playing in Asia was more or less done as a favor to a sponsor, out of boredom, or out of necessity - like Brian Gay, who began his long journey to being a two-time PGA Tour winner on the continent.

For the two best players in the world - who happen to be American - they see the FedExCup as providing an opportunity to play more globally.  In fact, Mickelson considers it such an opportunity that he is able to dismiss the PGA Tour season as being over after the Tour Championship.  Given their sponsors are multinational corporations, not only is it an opportunity, it is likely a business obligation.  While that is true for Phil and Tiger, for the other 21 American players, that it not necessarily the case...yet.

But, there are four major factors that will likely drive more Americans to play abroad more often. 

First is money.  The global golf calendar is growing in terms of events, countries, and dollars.  Americans will eventually be motivated to chase these big money events around the globe, particularly depending upon how healthy the PGA Tour's schedule is in 2011 - a subject of serious conjecture right now.

As an offshoot of that, the realization will strike players that there are opportunities for sponsorship abroad because of golf's inclusion into the '16 Olympics in Rio.  While US speed skating may be busy courting The Colbert Report as a sponsor, golf has a much higher profile and global profile.  Players will have opportunities to be sponsored by multinational companies that want to be associated with the Olympics, but not pay their pricetag.  These companies can do so vis a vis player sponsorship.  That will likely come with some strings, though.

Those strings are part of the third reason.  The PGA Tour and European Tour are engaged in a cold war to plant their Tour's flags in golf's frontier nations and continents.  The game has not fully been brought to Asia.  In fact, this HSBC Champions event has evolved on a bionic level compared to the organic growth on the continent.  That, in part, is driven by the desire to claim Asia.  South America and Africa are fairly raw continents.  There will be seven years to claim these territories.  Even Augusta National is in on the act.

Finally, there are the world rankings.  The system has been effectively gamed by the Asian Tour, thanks to its co-sanctioning of events with the European Tour.  This is likely to continue into the near future.  With the Official World Golf Rankings determining fields for so many high profile events, Americans will likely have to play into the system that the world's #2 and #4 pro tours have created.

There are just too many factors that are lining up against Americans unwilling to travel thousands of miles to play golf.  In order to chase ranking points and dollars, they will eventually have to acquiesce to the reality that pro golf is going global.  Even if the quality of competition lags wildly behind the dollars, the dollars may eventually manifest the competition.