Player blasts US golfers for 'no show' at Wentworth

Cape Town - Nine-time major champion Gary Player has criticised the amount of American golfers playing at the European PGA Championship this weekend.

Player took to Twitter to lament the lack of US players teeing up at Wentworth saying that it was a "shame for our global game".

The 82-year-old continued,"You can never be a world champion if you stay at home."

The South African miscalculated saying that he counted six American golfers, however there are actually five - Julian Suri, Harold Varner III, David Lipsky, Daniel Im and Chase Koepka.

The highest-ranked American in the field this week at Wentworth is world No 79 Suri.

Despite having the likes of Rory McIlory, Paul Casey and Alex Noren in England, some European Tour members favoured playing in the PGA Tour's Fort Worth Invitational - including Justin Rose, Jon Rahm, Shubhankar Sharma and South Africa's very own Louis Oosthuizen.

Interestingly, there are more world ranking points up for grabs at Wentworth (64) this week than in the corresponding PGA Tour event at Colonial (56).

However, the prize fund for the European PGA Championship is $7 million with the Fort Worth Invitational prize fund at $7.1 million.

Unfortunately, I can only count 6 players from the USA playing at Wentworth in the @BMWPGA on the @EuropeanTour “flagship” event. What a shame for our global game. You can never be a world champion if you stay at home. GP

— Gary Player (@garyplayer) May 24, 2018