We haven't talked much about the Race to Dubai in recent months, but it is the European Tour's version of the FedEx Cup.  The Race to Dubai basically is using the money list to determine who gets entry into a $10 million season-ending event in Dubai.  The top 60 players enter the field.  The player who then wins the money list at the end of that event gets the bulk share of a $10 million bonus pool.

Is it now?

This whole thing is sponsored by Leisurecorp, a Dubai-based development company, as part of a five-year, $150 million deal.  Lesiurecorp has falled on some hard times as a result of the global real estate and financial crisis. 

As Internet Writer of the Year John Hopkins notes, the problem is actually with the host course of the season-ending Dubai World Championship.

The global economic situation, however, has depressed the property market in Dubai and meant that most of the villas at Jumeirah Golf Estate, which were to be sold to raise money for Leisurecorp, remain unsold.

It has been so difficult that the Dubai government took ownership of Leisurecorp yesterday.

European Tour Chief Executive George O'Grady commented on the situation.

This thing is, one, about marketing Dubai and, two, about marketing Jumeirah Golf Estates - and if you are not selling lots of houses there has got to be a possibly temporary issue. Our five-year contract with Leisurecorp is safe, as we speak today. It is unaffected. We are not renegotiating it. They might have moved it from Leisurecorp to Nakheel, but the bones of the contract remain the same. We are financially sound and secure.

That comment sounds an awful lot like the comments made from the PGA Tour after Ginn filed for bankruptcy protection.  And there is about zero chance that Ginn will ever honor the PGA Tour contract.

The takeover of Leisurecorp also seems a lot like the bailouts of financial institutions here in the United States.  Ultimately, many of the companies that received TARP money (willingly or unwillingly) were sponsors of golf.  They were criticized so much for their sponsorship of golf tournaments that Wachovia/Wells Fargo, now bankrupt Chrysler, and Morgan Stanley took their names off of events they sponsored.

The backlash will certainly not be the same in Dubai because it is a completely different political climate and the Dubai government's commitment to golf seems steadfast.  Still, as we began speculating some time ago, the global economic slowdown has finally hit the European Tour's most crucial sponsorship.